Xfire User Names

"Okay, I'll try and clarify this once and for all here:

We're probably going to be dealing with spyware accusations for all time. This stems from the fact that most software programs that are classified as "spyware" are utilizing similar technology to what XFire uses to detect you playing games. People hate spyware because it can scan your computer and transmit what applications you run, what servers you connect to, etc to someone remotely. Well, hello. That's exactly what XFire is DESIGNED to do, and we're entirely open about it. We're just a bunch of gamers ourselves here...I hate spyware with a vengeance. It's unfortunate that the technology has been has been corrupted by those who want to spy/screw up people's computers, but also note that Windows itself as well as a number of software firewalls/virus scanners use LSPs. It doesn't instantly mean SPYWARE! Wink

The LSP is what is needed to detect your gaming traffic. Like dethmag said, you could remove it...however, you're going to break at least some (not all, but some) of the functionality of XFire. Removing it will not necessarily break your internet connection; however, we can't really offer any help (either with XFire or with other programs) if it's missing - the behavior is just very difficult to predict. What removing it *should* do is prevent XFire from ever knowing what server you're on, what the game data is, etc. You might still be able to join your friends, but they won't be able to join you. Dethmag removed it and his connection worked fine; we've found it missing in other places and replacing it fixes a broken internet connection. Repetable behavior is very difficult to find because everyone's system is a little different.

It's fairly well known we have a problem with some computers losing internet access after installing XFire, and that it's related to the ua_lsp.dll file. Almost certainly - again, we don't have a solid reason for why this is happening. We have a bunch computers lined up here with all different OS's, different software configurations, that are used almost exclusively for testing with any configuration. We haven't been able to duplicate the problem reliably, so we're still working on it. Yes, it is annoying, and I do apologize to everyone who is having this problem. But, as I'm sure those people have noticed, XFire includes a totally clean and complete uninstaller. We have no intention of hosing someone's computer and then keeping our app on there to "spy" on them - using XFire is entirely voluntary, and you know exactly what it is when you download it.

Every system is also a little different. In general, we've found that you don't *need* to reboot after installing. However, your system may try and route traffic through XFire that shouldn't be until you've rebooted and the system service has had a chance to properly register itself and figure out where it stands on your network stack.

So anyway...if he wants to call it spyware, fine. The data you send to the XFire servers is the data on a) what game you're playing b) what server you're playing on c) any game data (players, map, etc) that is available d) everything associated with the instant messaging, etc. I'm sure some clever network guy out there could sniff out our packets and verify this, but other than that you just have to take our word Razz The data is not stored or kept here other than to track the game stats you see on your profile. Believe me, if it sent anything like system configuration or whatnot, my job would be approximately infinitely easier, but instead I end up endlessly asking for "What OS are you using, etc etc" Smile

I hope that clears things up."