DISCUSSION A: If you saw such a warning message please report it to
the developers of the anti-spyware application, and kindly send
them a link to this page.
AlphaShift and Accenti (the Italian version of the software)
are general purpose tools which process keyboard input in order
to perform "as-you-type" macro replacements and error detection
and correction. Accenti is
especially popular among writers of Italian, as it is able to
reliably process Italian accent and apostrophe errors.
In order to process the input text, the software registers
itself with Windows as a keyboard hook. The software does not
record or store any keyboard input data anywhere. It only
processes the last few characters, which are required to operate
on the input stream, e.g. for macro replacement and to correct
errors.
Anti-spyware applications check for keyboard hooks because
any software that monitors keystrokes has the potential to be
malicious (e.g. a virus which logs keyboard input and then sends
it somewhere). Because AlphaShift and Accenti do not fall under
this category, it is desirable that the developers of
anti-spyware application update their "signatures" so as to
recognize AlphaShift and Accenti and not issue an inappropriate
warning.
Identification of AlphaShift and Accenti is technically
simple and false positives are easy to avoid, because:
- All
executable files (e.g. alphash.exe, etc.) are
digitally signed with Microsoft
Authenticode technology (no other entity would be able to
create such signed code)
- The signor is Cloanto
Corporation, a Nevada, USA, company (it is not possible
to have two companies with the same name in the same state)
- A sample application is
available for download (the software and its detection
are easy to verify and test)
AlphaShift and Accenti use the same set of
executable files. If you need to label
the software for description purposes, an appropriate short name
could be "Cloanto AlphaShift/Accenti".
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