Best of the ISP-Lists

Recommending Software: Upside, Downside

In the litigious environment of the U.S., ISP technicians report they are wary of being held responsible for software that they recommend to customers.

[September 20, 2004]

On the ISP-Marketing list in September, RS asked:

How do you cover your "rear" with free third-party software recommendations to subscribers such as Spybot and Ad-Aware? Many of our subscribers are benefiting from these free downloads, however some are having computer problems as a result of these programs. How do we position our recommendations without the subscribers expecting support? Also, we're thinking of leaving behind a CD with third party software after each install.

[EA replied] "If you leave a CD behind, be careful about copyright infringement even if the software is 'free.'"

[BK recommended] "We provide links from our sites to their sites, along with a disclaimer: 'We neither support or endorse any program. These tools are provided 'As Is' by their respective developer and we assume no responsibility or support for their use.'"

[FM enthused] "When we hand them back their computer all fixed, not much to complain about. After paying the bill, they are very receptive in hearing what we say in regards to maintaining their computer. There is a good market for this service and we have been doing it for some time. Maintaining and setting up home networks has also been a good service.

Each has its own licensing agreement and it is up to the individual to accept or not. Some of these problems may conflict at times; i.e. Ad-Aware has an issue with some files Spybot keeps. When you run Spybot-S&D, it shows this warning:

You have AdAware installed. If you have the AdAware option to scan inside archives enabled, AdAware may find files in the Spybot-S&D folder. Spybot-S&D does not contain any spyware, but it creates backups of everything you fix (until you remove those backups from the Recovery list), and AdAware complains about these backups. You can safely ignore these backups found by AdAware.

The most common problem seen so far is that when people use these programs they forget about their AV program. Some think the anti-adware programs take care of viruses and do not update their AV signature files. We use Spybot, AdAware and Spy Sweeper along with an AV when we do any computer service, installs or network setup. It is a nice add-on to the service call.

[BK replied] "We do the same thing—something the local shops don't—and we've gotten outstanding responses. Plus, doing it before hand, apparently helps with the XP sp2 install. (I don't see what those other shops are thinking by not ensuring a stable platform beforehand.)"

—End