TaxCut installs spyware?

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Posted by Jim on Feb 3, 2008 4,420 views

Installing TaxCut from a CD, I was shocked to find a piece of spyware on a clean computer. No mention of this product can be found on the H&R Block website. Is that malware or spyware? Sitting on a new clean installation of Microsoft Windows Vista it was pretty easy to spot the spyware pdf995 installed on my PC. After checking, this virus or spyware came down from the install of H&R Block’s TaxCut software. I removed both programs pdf995 and pdfedit995. These programs, both badly written to not include an Uninstall icon, had to be removed from the Control Panel.

Next step was a call to H&R Block to let them know my dissatisfaction with their installation of any crap outside of their program. Let alone one done without my express consent or approval during the installation. And no where in the system requirements do you see that pdf995 is a requirement to run their software. In fact, here is the search results from their website -

Sorry, no matches were found containing pdf995. To get more specific search results, try using the following tips:

That doesn’t sound like a product or utility they stand behind very clearly.

Started up TaxCut and did an update on the software. It downloaded a tmp file, and asked to close and restart TaxCut to apply the updates. And there are the 2 applications installed again without any prompts. After you remove the software, be sure to delete the direction PDF995 under Program Files. C:\Program Files\PDF995. Then go under your start menu and remove the folder Software995 and the shortcut to software995 dot com. Yes, that sounds like a needed utility or component bundled inside the software and not an external piece of malware, spyware, or just garbage junk installed without an end users consent.

When I called H&R Block technical Support, after a 10 minute wait on the phone, the first person had no idea what pdf995 was. Or that anything was being installed with their software. He had to go speak with a supervisor, and come back and tell me that it is part of the program. He then offered no other information so I asked him if he needed my confirmation code to issue me a full refund.

Filed Under: technology

Tags: business, politics, software, technology

scsitransfer said,

I’m a Tier 2 Representative for TaxCut Software. pdf995 is not a virus nor a spyware and I’m curious as to what program told you that it was. The program is what TaxCut uses to allow you to save your return as an adobe pdf file, it can be downloaded and read about from http://www.pdf995.com/ there’s nothing malicious about it, in fact this from the FAQ on the website for the pdf995 driver

“Is Pdf995 spyware?
No. Neither Pdf995 nor any Software995 products monitor sites the user visits or report back how our products are used.”

and in fact when searching for “pdf995 spyware” on google your blog is the ONLY site i see positively identifying it as a spyware program. Believe me we all have TaxCut installed on our machines here at work if there was spyware embedded in the program we wouldn’t be able to because we have so much information here that we need to protect that it’s not even plausible to consider TaxCut including a virus or spyware. I’m sorry you got a poor representative on the phone when you called support.
Jim said,

1. Thanks for looking for information about your company and responding to it. It is always interesting to see that companies do this as a customer service effort.
2. When I wrote the post, there was nothing on your web site.
3. When I installed the software, there was no prompt asking me if I wanted any third party products installed.
4. When I removed it, your software reinstalled it as part of the next update. The only item I was asked if if I wanted to “Check for updates to TaxCut”
5. If the technology provided from pdf995 was important, you could easily integrate it into the product at the SDK, object, component, DLL, get the picture? level.
6. On my second call, the second representative had no knowledge of pdf95, and thats why I got a full refund.
TaxCut trolling to repair bad press about spyware and pdf995 | Jim Skamarakas said,

[...] pdf995 bad press about TaxCut is making its way across the Internet. When I initially wrote http://skamarakas.com/jim/2008/02/03/taxcut-installs-spyware/#comment-156 TaxCut installs spyware?, it was early in the tax season. Nothing existed about this third party [...]
Scott said,

Thanks for posting this, Jim. I just saw the malware/spyware on my machine too and, as an experienced sysadmin/programmer, that’s exactly the terminology I would use to describe that software (and as such, TaxCut now goes in that category for installing it).

To the Tier 2 Representative for TaxCut Software: The stuff is malware and none of your users wanted it. Have you used the software (pdf)? Have you seen what it does/how it takes over the system with popups?

I left TurboTax years ago after they completely told their customers F-U with their activation system and I began using TaxCut. Now, as far as I’m concerned, TaxCut is walking a fine line. They install malware on my machine and that makes them a malware company. Damn. The list is short in terms of high quality tax software companies… Damn. I’m just disappointed.