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CDex

CDex is an Open Source Digital Audio CD Extractor.

Spyware Level: Low

CDex's installer bundles it with spyware, and it will randomly suggest a spyware program to the user, with a chance to opt-out. Usually it attempts to bundle itself with the WebDiscover browser and one time I got it to try and offer me an antivirus program, but I wasn't able to reproduce this. The program was tested on Windows 7 32-bit with Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4 and Wireshark 2.6.2. The version of the program tested was 2.06. It did not make any connections to the internet that my tests were able to find. To test the program I ripped the audio files out of a CD with both network monitoring programs open.

Bundling with spyware

CDex attempts to bundle itself with the WebDiscover web browser. This is an Opt-out and not an Opt-in like it should be. This program is spyware, because according to its privacy policy[1], it collects information about its users.

CDex installer spyware opt-out screen

Sources:

  1. WebDiscover Privacy Policy [web.archive.org] [ghostarchive.org]
This article was last edited on 08/17/2021

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