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Dec. 13th, 2005
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Attention Mac users!
Dec. 13th, 2005 06:11 pmFound on MacInTouch
We received an unconfirmed report that Printer Setup Repair 5.0.3
incorporates a hidden and dangerous anti-copying mechanism, and the company
responded to our follow-up with an explanation:
[MacInTouch Reader]
Printer Setup Repair, the widely-used utility for Mac OS X printers, has
taken a malicious approach to combatting software piracy. With version
5.0.3 for Mac OS X Tiger, if the user enters a pirated serial number known
to the program, the program will immediately and without any warning
remove all user preferences and the user keychain, and possibly do other
unknown damage to the user's system. [...]
[John Goodchild, President, Fixamac Software, Inc]
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have examined our code
and discovered an error in the area that rejects pirated registration
codes. The original objective was to delete the Printer Setup Repair
preferences but a misplaced space in the code allowed the entire user
preferences folder to be erased. This would only occur if a pirated code
was used. The error was probably overlooked since there was a need to
block a new batch of pirated codes quickly. There was no such error in
the area that handles legitimate registration codes and in no way can
occur if a legitimate registration code is entered incorrectly since the
user name is also a part of our internal tests. We have fixed the problem
and posted an update. This was not a malicious act on our part, rather an
effort to protect our product from software pirates, and we regret any
damage that may have been caused by the use of pirated registration codes.
Anyone who downloaded Printer Setup Repair 5.0.3 between 11-05-05 and
12-06-05 should download the current release from our web site.
We received an unconfirmed report that Printer Setup Repair 5.0.3
incorporates a hidden and dangerous anti-copying mechanism, and the company
responded to our follow-up with an explanation:
[MacInTouch Reader]
Printer Setup Repair, the widely-used utility for Mac OS X printers, has
taken a malicious approach to combatting software piracy. With version
5.0.3 for Mac OS X Tiger, if the user enters a pirated serial number known
to the program, the program will immediately and without any warning
remove all user preferences and the user keychain, and possibly do other
unknown damage to the user's system. [...]
[John Goodchild, President, Fixamac Software, Inc]
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have examined our code
and discovered an error in the area that rejects pirated registration
codes. The original objective was to delete the Printer Setup Repair
preferences but a misplaced space in the code allowed the entire user
preferences folder to be erased. This would only occur if a pirated code
was used. The error was probably overlooked since there was a need to
block a new batch of pirated codes quickly. There was no such error in
the area that handles legitimate registration codes and in no way can
occur if a legitimate registration code is entered incorrectly since the
user name is also a part of our internal tests. We have fixed the problem
and posted an update. This was not a malicious act on our part, rather an
effort to protect our product from software pirates, and we regret any
damage that may have been caused by the use of pirated registration codes.
Anyone who downloaded Printer Setup Repair 5.0.3 between 11-05-05 and
12-06-05 should download the current release from our web site.