Beware Panasonic Recorder Driver Downloads

Panasonic Recorder Driver Downloads are Malware

Drivers are simply not available online for most of the range of Panasonic digital audio recorders with model numbers rr-US***. Included are Panasonic rr-US430,  Panasonic rr-US450 and Panasonic rr-US500.

Although a quick Google for Panasonic driver rr-US450 or any of the models numbers mentioned will produce hundreds of search results, NONE of the links will lead the searcher to a driver file for this range of products. “Downloads for Panasonic DVC USB Driver” will produce the same negative result.

All of the links will eventually take you to one of a small handful of “download” sites. The majority will send you to Driver Guide (www.driverguide.com) and several mirror type sites that look the same and do the same.

Driverguide.com Fake Driver Software

Driver Guide (www.driverguide.com) packages are fakes and a way of spreading Babylon software. They do not have the required Panasonic Recorder driver in their packages, or even in their library. Claiming they do is false advertising. Driverguide.com should be blacklisted for distributing rubbish software under the guise of drivers for well-known products.

Running the “driver download installer” will install Babylon translation software (Malware in my opinion) on your computer, redirect every installed browser homepage to Babylon homepage, and add the Babylon toolbar to every installed browser. It won’t stop at adding this rubbish to your profile – it adds it to every user profile as well as the “All Users/Application Data folders.

Removing it is a manual, time-consuming, process.

The Babylon toolbar is SPYWARE. It sends data about your internet activity back to the Babylon server!

Other Malware Packages Claiming to be Panasonic Drivers.

CuteIM is another hidden package. Some other links will ofer a driver – the package is a disguised CuteIM installer.

Still others are for “Driver Scanner” or “Driver Updater” software. Anyone installing one of these apps is asking for trouble… These types of scanners are notorious for spreading spyware and stealing personal information…

Panasonic Software Required

The devices need the full Panasonic software package “Panasonic Voice Editing ver 2.0 not just a driver file or two. Audio is encoded in a proprietory format so even if the recorder owner manages to copy the audio files from the recorder, they are useless without the application. Panasonic Voice Editing ver 2 software is a large file of 628MB, and an update of 345MB is also required. The software comes on 2 CD’s from those Panasonic agents having copies.

Considering the size of the file. it is perhaps understandanble why this software is not avalable online. However Panasonic should provide this information on their website informing recorder owners why the software cannot be downloaded.

Malware is Not Limited To Viruses

When we discuss computer malware everyone automatically thinks of viruses, worms and trojans. However any software disguised as something else is also malware. Any application installer that installs anything other than the clearly stated software is malware. If it offers no choice during the install process for the user to choose whether they want the additional things it wants to install – it is malware.

When a software installer writes files to numerous folders and the user does not have a choice of where these files are written – it is malware…

+Mike Otgaar