barnacle wi-fi tether maybe malware???

[Guest Venushakti]

Me: Moderately expert techie - I have a compsci generalist degree & understanding of OOP/DBA/IA/hardware/networking/sysadmin etc. I know just enough to get myself into trouble, apparently. I am also cognitively impaired from a mild brain/spine injury, so I heartily apologize for how incredibly VERBOSE this post is. Thank you in advance for skimming and responding with suggestions/clue-by-fours.

Phone: Got an LG Ally about a month ago, temp rooted it (i think universal androot) and installed Barnacle Wi-Fi Tether from the native Market.

Set it up, it worked well enough with my Netbook (old Acer AspireOne, XP Home)... but USB tethering was faster, so I mostly used PDANet instead.

Then I started having problems with my desktop (really weird tweaky stuff, started interfering with SeaMonkey - sending the current message version out by smtp everytime i saved a draft, random cursor movements, et cetera... AND all the audio on all the phone videos I'd taken went silent) whenever I used barnacle with the netbook...

Uninstalled barnacle using Android settings menu.

No sign of it in (limited) available views into the filesystem/processes internally (Astro, Watchdog Lite, native Settings) or externally (using standard Vista & XP exploration of SD card contents).

(And if you're wondering... I haven't figured out how to obliterate the bloatware either. And my VCR blinks 12:00. ::grin:: )

The audio loss on all my vids became permanent (both on and off phone when downloaded). Lost a bunch of (ahem) highly personal media at the same time (some indeterminable number of flix/pix disappeared into bitbucket at about same time as barnacle uninstall) but I'm not sure how much or which ones just yet.

So anyway... got my netbook and laptop running again a few days ago after they'd been down, and SURPRISE!... "barnacle" shows up as an available adhoc wifi network whenever my phone is within range of either box!

Even with the Wifi setting on the phone turned off!

Even in AIRPLANE mode.

Even with the phone ITSELF powered OFF.

The ONLY way to get barnacle to stop promoting its SSID is if I take it off the charger and REMOVE THE BATTERY. And *leave* it out.

My computers are able to negotiate a handshake with the "barnacle" network, but my nittygrittynetworking-fu goes no farther in investigation, and I only have Web access by selfsame Ally (using Dolphin HD/Opera Mini/Skyfire browsers).

HELP?! I need to completely and totally DISINTEGRATE barnacle and all traces of it from my phone. DIE BARNACLE DIE!

This is my Solution Wishlist:

1. no permanent root or ROM install required

2. no longterm loss of function of phone (it's my only connection to finding a job and getting medical care, etc - so it can't be down for more than 1-2 hours

3. no huge reinstall headaches (please please please goddess let there be some other way than a rip&reinstall of the whole dang shebang so I don't have to wait a day or two to get all my apps & profiles set back up)

4. a list of links to basic droid security weaknesses and exploits resources, info pages on basic google droid OS maintenance, and the top few most reliable forums for droid health and wellness

5. NO money required (desperately poor and ill disabled college student currently in foreclosure. any money comes out of my and my foster kitties' mouths)... (OTOH, I am an avid word-of-mouther though, don't mind looking at ads at all (and occasionally click when there's interest and I have an income) and I semi-regularly write reviews of products/services on my various blogs/soapboxes especially to support good ideas!)

I plan to eventually root and ROM my phone after I've gotten up to speed so I can fix what I break. For now, I need to keep the option open to replace the phone with Verizon... which I can't if I root/rom at this point, since I'm not a TOTALLY rank droid n00b now.

Anyone who manages to read and comprehend this mess I just wrote... and can think of even a crazy suggestion to check out -

THANKS! I'll send a special mention to the Universe to pass the kindness back your way when you need it most next.

Venushakti

[Guest AntonioPT]

If you did 5 seconds of research on Google you'd find out that Barnacle Wi-Fi Tether is Open Source. That means absolutely no malware. In fact, don't trust me. Just read the code yourself. :(

The problems with your desktop are just a coincidence. BTW, who uses Seamonkey nowadays? Firefox, Chrome, Opera, ... rings a bell? :)

The files going missing from your phone - also coincidence.

The "barnacle" SSID on your PC is just cached, try to connect to it and you'll see that it doesn't work :( You really thought that barnacle had the ability to run even with the phone off? :)

Barnacle works just fine for me, and it should for you too. :(

[Guest Douche Patrol]

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Edited December 19, 2010 by Douche Patrol