Just saw this @ NTFS.org. During the past week, discussions have abounded on Internet sites that suggest ATI's Catalyst Driver package has a type of "spy ware" embedded into it. In the last day or two, suggestions from Microsoft appear to point to a root cause for these discussions.
The cause, according to Microsoft (which ATI is working to verify and/or dispel), suggests that when a certain flag value is set for one of the DirectX interfaces, Windows will try to download updated Windows Quality Hardware Labs (WHQL) certificates. ATI is actively analyzing its code to determine the validity of this claim.
Microsoft has pointed out that when the activity of updating WHQL certificates takes place, no information is retrieved from the user's system. (We should hope so, considering that users abhor spy ware, and 'Gator,' in particular, comes to mind....)
News source: Toms Hardware
