The official "Bing Wallpaper app" does some nasty, malware-like things to Windows

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Alfonso Maruccia

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WTF?! Microsoft recently released the Bing Wallpaper app on the Windows Store, offering users a new, official way to change your desktop wallpaper on a daily basis. The app includes a collection of images from around the world that have been featured on the Bing homepage, but it apparently also brings a series of very questionable hidden perks after being installed on a Windows PC.

Some third-party software companies behave like true malware sellers, packing their products with really questionable functionality and hidden payloads. When Microsoft shows the same behavior, however, Windows users tend to react swiftly and in an extremely negative way.

According to Windows dev and "reverse engineer by night" Rafael Rivera, Bing Wallpaper is an absolute nightmare for the user's security and privacy. The app automatically installs Bing Visual Search and includes code to decrypt cookies saved in other browsers, Rivera said, and it also brings a "free" geolocation web API to the system.

Cool wallpaper, not so cool app...

The developer discovered "many" nasty tricks Microsoft integrated in Bing Wallpapers, which include trying to change the browser's settings and set Edge as the default system browser. If the default browser isn't Edge, the app will open the default browser after some time asking to enable the previously installed Microsoft Bing Search for Chrome extension.

Rivera provided a list of the forcefully installed extensions users need to block in Chrome or Firefox. The developer straight up defined Bing Wallpaper as a malicious app, pointing to the app's server configuration for people interested in further investigating this malware. There's also a registry key that can apparently force the app to "nuke itself," which sounds like a very nice option to have at this point.

Netizens welcomed the Bing Wallpaper "malware" with open arms, and now they are sharing some very nice comments on Microsoft's latest attempt to bother the Windows userbase. People are saying that this sounds exactly like a thing Microsoft would do, while someone is even evoking a class action lawsuit against the company. If the wallpaper is free, one user said, you are likely the product.

At this point, Bing Wallpaper can be considered unwanted, hostile adware at best. Dynamic wallpapers and related desktop customization features are readily available with other, adware-free apps and proper Win32 programs like Dynamic Wallpaper, Wallpaper Engine, and many more. Windows 11 even includes a native feature to change the desktop background every day, so there really is no need to install "official" Bing apps to get the job done.

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The official "Bing Wallpaper app" does some nasty, malware-like things to Windows

 
This is why I generally run a limited setup, I only put on things that I need to perform the task I want to perform. If I am installing a one off tool I will only use once or twice it gets installed in a VM, after I am done with the tool the VM gets reverted.
 
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Awesome little PoS (piece of... software) from an awesome company. But when the OS itself is a big effin spying turd, your expectations should already be pretty low.

Yesterday I had to rage delete Acrobat Reader, with my sincere wishes for a speedy demise to Adobe. You gotta love this company as well and the sheer amount of crap its programs install on a user's PC. Worse than a virus in some cases.
 
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RudyBob said:
Microsoft would never do this as a liberal company. Only conservatives spy
Click to expand...
Oh you naive summer child
If the GOP won the big corporates won
If Dems won the big corporates won

anyway if we took your comments at face value
If a Dem politician is trafficking minors , having sex with and drugs with minors . 99% of Liberals will say let them see court

I have yet to see any Liberal care about say Hunter Bide, except probably to get his rights under law
I don't worship anyone , so I don't care
Only people I see defending say Woody Allen , for grooming his step daughter are those who think such actions are perfectly fine , heaps defended Polansky or whatever his name was - they were probably some type of libertarians , or people full of BS - you don't understand creative people , or think he was innocent and big bad USA wants him as he's a radical or something
But they gave reasons - with say MAGA we know , we don't care if he did all that , teen girls , rape, fraud, stealing from charities , illegal donations , scamming people etc , but we care if they did it

I might be wrong , but heard in The USA 15 year olds could go on a sexual offenders list or some suck ilk for sending nude pictures to each other, As a liberal I'd defend such stupidity . I'll show you mine it you show me yours has been around before I was born

Another question how is Microsoft liberal- it's in Washington State? - what because of a once ruthless Bill Gate , who now does charity work and minimises his inheritance tax through such stuff, What's Bill gates got to do with MS Bing window app - Nada, Rest of shareholders only want returns , Gates who knows - he still pretty wealthy whatever happens
 
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kiwigraeme said:
Oh you naive summer child
If the GOP won the big corporates won
If Dems won the big corporates won

anyway if we took your comments at face value
If a Dem politician is trafficking minors , having sex with and drugs with minors . 99% of Liberals will say let them see court

I have yet to see any Liberal care about say Hunter Bide, except probably to get his rights under law
I don't worship anyone , so I don't care
Only people I see defending say Woody Allen , for grooming his step daughter are those who think such actions are perfectly fine , heaps defended Polansky or whatever his name was - they were probably some type of libertarians , or people full of BS - you don't understand creative people , or think he was innocent and big bad USA wants him as he's a radical or something
But they gave reasons - with say MAGA we know , we don't care if he did all that , teen girls , rape, fraud, stealing from charities , illegal donations , scamming people etc , but we care if they did it

I might be wrong , but heard in The USA 15 year olds could go on a sexual offenders list or some suck ilk for sending nude pictures to each other, As a liberal I'd defend such stupidity . I'll show you mine it you show me yours has been around before I was born

Another question how is Microsoft liberal- it's in Washington State? - what because of a once ruthless Bill Gate , who now does charity work and minimises his inheritance tax through such stuff, What's Bill gates got to do with MS Bing window app - Nada, Rest of shareholders only want returns , Gates who knows - he still pretty wealthy whatever happens
Click to expand...
Imagine responding to a cheeky comment and the best you can come up with is a giant whataboutism "my team doesnt do this but your team DEFINITELY does everything on that list". Bruh a redditor would be embarrassed to type all that.
 
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This is why I am so glad I changed to Linux, and so thankful Valve has pulled up its sleeves to support dxvk, work on proton to properly utilise WINE for gaming and so on where playing windows ganes on linux is so much easier, and the user experience has been pretty nice compared to when I tried it a few years ago (EndeavourOS is the distro I am using, a slightly more user friendly version of Arch), installed it last month and I thought I'd probably need a vm for windows to play anti cheat games or dart back and forth to remember settings or use programs that won't play ball, but I haven't touched Windows since, you do have to switch some tools you use, but otherwise the performance is miles better, plenty of open spirce tools about now that are good, and importantly, I can choose when I want to update, and I can clearly see and control what my os does vs Windows which passes you this crap, thanks Microsoft, clearly regressing back into its anti consumer shell to extract every last dollar of value out of its consumers
 
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Wow that's scummy. I never really understood why this program existed when the "Windows spotlight" background option did the same thing and was built in to Windows 10/11. Now I hope that doesn't do some of the same "functions" as this program did.
 
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Alfonso Maruccia said:
Dynamic wallpapers and related desktop customization features are readily available with other, adware-free apps and proper Win32 programs like Dynamic Wallpaper, Wallpaper Engine, and many more.
Click to expand...
I have been using Wallpaper Engine for almost a decade now, and it really is excellent.
But not easy to learn and get familiar with. Still, worth it.
I paid $4 for it in mid 2010s, and it is still the same price.
 
kiwigraeme said:
Oh you naive summer child
If the GOP won the big corporates won
If Dems won the big corporates won

anyway if we took your comments at face value
If a Dem politician is trafficking minors , having sex with and drugs with minors . 99% of Liberals will say let them see court

I have yet to see any Liberal care about say Hunter Bide, except probably to get his rights under law
I don't worship anyone , so I don't care
Only people I see defending say Woody Allen , for grooming his step daughter are those who think such actions are perfectly fine , heaps defended Polansky or whatever his name was - they were probably some type of libertarians , or people full of BS - you don't understand creative people , or think he was innocent and big bad USA wants him as he's a radical or something
But they gave reasons - with say MAGA we know , we don't care if he did all that , teen girls , rape, fraud, stealing from charities , illegal donations , scamming people etc , but we care if they did it

I might be wrong , but heard in The USA 15 year olds could go on a sexual offenders list or some suck ilk for sending nude pictures to each other, As a liberal I'd defend such stupidity . I'll show you mine it you show me yours has been around before I was born

Another question how is Microsoft liberal- it's in Washington State? - what because of a once ruthless Bill Gate , who now does charity work and minimises his inheritance tax through such stuff, What's Bill gates got to do with MS Bing window app - Nada, Rest of shareholders only want returns , Gates who knows - he still pretty wealthy whatever happens
Click to expand...
It was a joke but I made you think
 
RudyBob said:
It was a joke but I made you think
Click to expand...
Yeah cheers for that, always find people who mindless consume everything weird. If I ever get around to watching fast & furious - I know that is all it's meant to be. But when I came back to NZ moved into a house with 2 women , tried to be social and join them to watch some telly like Survivor , one of them didn't want to hear my opinions who would get voted off or even discuss anything, I thought that was the point of reality shows and those singing talent shows. - I knew not to go to Meta -analysis of the editing , and how the show wanted to set people up , or make people look good or bad ( most people hate hearing that stuff ) . Anyway was a hard ask to just sit there and mindlessly consume to be social

The weird thing in the USA is people have more in common than they have differences. I don't have the best social skills in the world, but in my travels I could chat with anyone , rich , poor , gang leader, extremist etc , Kind of know what to say to get out of situations without offending, that would make sense to someone. Would love to man , looks fun, but I promised my dearest late Mamma ,,,,,, probably main thing is to listen to them with a pleasant enough face, not disdain , sneering etc
Even at school learnt to shut teachers down - Why were you late boy! ( not I slept in and didn't care if late ) , family problems Sir, don't want to discuss it in from of the class - knowing they would not ask later
 
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kiwigraeme said:
But when I came back to NZ moved into a house with 2 women
Click to expand...
OK. First off, BRAVO!!

kiwigraeme said:
tried to be social and join them to watch some telly like Survivor , one of them didn't want to hear my opinions who would get voted off or even discuss anything, I thought that was the point of reality shows and those singing talent shows.
Click to expand...
My daughters watch even less TV than I do, but one thing I quickly learned was DO NOT come between a woman and her reality shows. Even just for some thoughts on them.
Worked out though, and I'm happy you are still alive!! ;)
 
dualkelly said:
Do yourself a favor and delete all MS apps after install windows. its not that hard many tools out there will delete them all. you have to rip windows down to the studs. its trash otherwise.
Click to expand...
Do yourself a bigger favour by not installing them in the first place. Super trivial to make a custom xml file that is read on install that allows you to choose exactly what is or isn't installed. You can delete copilot, Edge, telemetry, windows store, to name but a few things.
 
Well boyz, gurlz, and all genders in between, as you may or may not know, I'm quite the Luddite. That said, it is my firm belief that everything M$ has introduced since Windows 7, is malware_full stop.

While M$ has vaunted it's "improvement" in security with the attention given. "Windows Defender", in reality, they only did it in an attempt to lock out third party providers.

So, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, "we have nothing to fear from Microsoft, but Microsoft itself".
 
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Mr Majestyk said:
DoJ should indict Nadella under cybersecurity terrorism act.
Click to expand...
I've vocally loathed and despised Nadella since the day M$ hired him. But I think you've really hit the nail on the head with this.

However, I'm concerned we might have to outbid M$ with the DOJ for any action to be taken. (Just idle speculation on my part. Chalk it up to paranoia).
 
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ZedRM said:
Why are people installing this crap?
Click to expand...
Well, Windows is the "Android" of home operating systems So that many of its users are inexperienced. They base their choices like, "oh, that looks cool".....then it gets the big double click. And then "Bing-O" you're in-fuc-ted.

Every credit card company has a "shopping assistant app". You install it, and then they track you all over the web, as if Google isn't bad enough.. I have 3 credit cards, each with an app available. If I installed them all, do you think it would slow down my browser? I jus' gotta get that lowest price. Who cares if it's the highest interest rate?

I have a Windows 10 PC, built, activated and operating. I'm waiting until I get the time to kill updates, (it's already 22H2?), install my imaging software, and then I'll unplug the CAT-6 forever.

BTW, the i9-12900K is down to $255..00..! That's almost cheap enough to buy as a drop-in, while someone suffers through the anguish of the choice they made to go with the 14900. Sure it's got less cores, but......
 
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