AdWare and Spyware Programs.
These are the primary key players in the Adware & Spyware game although
there are a number of additional developers and adware software. We have tried
to include some basic information on what each of adware capablities are where
possible.
(They are not exactly forth comming about this information)
You can test your computer for some of these spyware elements on line from our site - just click here!
These adware and spyware programs are bundled within many freeware or shareware programs that are available on the internet and are installed on your computer without your full knowledge or understanding. Many times a softwre product can and does include several of of these adware products within the installation process. Currently there are over 850 programs that bundle these adware/spyware programs. Click Here for a full list of the various software products that include the adware listed below.
Info About:
eZula's TopText
Gator
Surf+
SaveNow
VX2 - Transponder
FlashTrack
WebHancer
Onflow
CometCursor
Radiate/Aureate
Conducent/Timesink
Cydoor
Web3000
Bonzi Buddy
GoHip's Browser Enhancement
DoubleClick
Cookies
Also known as iLookup, HotText, ContextPro. Famous for adding ugly orange-yellow links to web pages without authorization from the owners. TopText is the backbone of eZulas unethical keyword advertising program. Following TopText links results in opening a link to an unauthorised advertiser's web site. TopText keeps in contact with a third party server but it is not known what information is exchanged. TopText includes a downloader/installer which can be triggered by any web page. Some reports of crashes/reboots. One of many parasites included in the file-sharing program KaZaA and iMesh. (There seems to be something about browser parasites that makes every company involved use FunnYcAPITALisatioN.) Check out the list of Key Words that eZula is using to misdirect consumers.
Removal Instructions for eZula's TopText
Although Surf+ is a program that is advertised as a program to assist web surfers by allowing them to restrict excessive pop-up banners it also has the capability of displaying green highlighted links which can mislead web surfers and children to pornography and other unacceptable web sites. Although Surf+ has temporally suspended the creation of these links they could reactivate this feature at any time. In the past these links were used to steal traffic from legitimate web sites. In addition, it is possibly violating the security of encrypted communications between secure servers and users whose browsers are infected with Surf+. There is no way to know what use Surf+ is making of this confidential information. We can assume from their past actions that it will not be a use of which you would approve.
Removal Instructions for Surf+
Gator is promoted as "your smart online companion that fills out forms and remembers passwords". But it's main purpose is to load an advertising spyware module called OfferCompanion which displays pop-up ads when visiting Web sites. Gator boasts that since it's software is always running, it can spam users with "Special Offers" and other ads anywhere they go--even competitors' sites--with remarkable targeting capabilities. Gator can also dynamically inserting ads on top of ads already on the page. They look and feel like the site's real banners, but place ads for things the actual Web site never intended--including ads for competitors' products and possibly even adult materials. Among other things, this 'steals' advertising revenue from the legitimate owner of that Web site, as their banner is inaccessible and covered up by the Gator ad. Gator program automatically fills in Web forms (which is completely unnecessary since the Explorer browser already has a feature to fill out online forms). It is responsible for spying on your Web browsing habits, downloading and displaying pop-up ads, and transmitting personal information to Gator. Gator uses Trickler files (fsg.exe, fsg-ag.exe, fsg*.exe) When installed this adds a Run key in your Registry so that it is silently and automatically loaded every time you start your computer.
Gator can target consumers based on site visitation or historical behavior. This means that Gator can help companies precision target their ideal target audience by delivering targeted offers and promotions to consumers. During registration they collect Personal Contact Information. Although your Personal Information is stored locally on your computer in an encrypted file Gator may access this Personal Information and on occasion use your IP address to help diagnose problems with their server.
Gator provides aggregate statistics about its customers, traffic patterns, and related site information to third-party vendors in order for Gator to obtain promotional offers to provide to its customers. In order to provide this Service, they collect information on your web usage and may derive general information from your Personal Information and web usage.
Removal Instructions for Gator
Another tedious marketing
parasite. Opens pop-ups apparently triggered to keywords. There are suspicious
strings in the webHancer executable that could indicate an auto-update feature.
SaveNow is known to cause crashes frequently on many different setups.
Distribution: medium. Is delivered with many programs, including BearShare.
Although they claim not to collect personal date, they do know your email address
to send you information regarding special offers! WhenU.com may collect user
information such as gender, age and zip code to compile anonymous trend information
about Internet and WhenU.com usage patterns. WhenU.com compiles statistics by
aggregating information across large numbers of users. These statistics may
be provided to third parties.
In addition, WhenU also steals
the affiliate earnings and commissions away from legitimate authorized partnership
sites. When a computer user has WhenU installed and clicks on an ad on web site
WhenU will claim the credit and the commission away from the authorized partner.
For more information see http://www.thiefware.com/whenu/
Removal Instructions for SaveNow
Radiate/Aureate (www.radiate.com)
Radiate was founded in 1996.
They built technology that can be instantly embedded in any software product
to give advertisers the ability to target software users while they are using
the software.
Radiate’s technology includes these features:
-Precise audience targeting
-Rich media
-The ability for advertisements to be viewed even when users are not connected
to the -Internet
-Splash screens
-Dynamic messaging
-Customized demographic collection
-Real-time surveys
Radiate can target users in a variety of ways based on usage habits, software category, user demographic, etc. Detailed information about the people using the programs and their feedback Updated statistics on application's performance.
Advertisers can reach users around the clock whether they are connected to the Internet or not. Software gives advertisers the power to communicate directly to individuals within specific demographic markets.
Removal Instructions for Radiate/Aureate
DoubleClick is one of the leaders in internet advertising and marketing. Although they are not installing adware programs with other software programs to monitor your surfing habits they are working with a large number of companies and web sites which will install their DoubleClick Cookies and transmit data back and forth from your computer to their web server and back to DoubleClick. These cookies can store lots of information about your on-line web activities and they have been investigated by the FTC for their privacy issues. Currently they have scaled down their program, however, there are lots of cookies stored on thousands of computers across the internet. These cookies can be accessed by other web servers. Generally the data that is sent back and forth from consumers computers to various web servers as cookies are not securely encripted and can be intercepted.
Many web sites use cookies legitamatly to store basic information to assist you in revisiting a web site (such as a password that you need to use to reenter a web site)
Removal Instructions for DoubleClick
Conducent/Timesink (www.conducent.com)
The technology utilizes the Internet to dynamically deliver content to desktop software. Displays a stream of flashing ad banners when certain software is installed, including monstrous fullscreen (640x480) ads! Once the content is received it can then be displayed at any time in the application. Content activity information such as advertising impressions and click through data is then recorded and sent back to Conducent for daily reporting.
Conducent TimeSink, places
a link to a computer’s Registry which activates a small program every time
that computer is booted up. Why? That small program loads even if the host program
is not loaded! This is the link which regularly appears and which is run whenever
the computer is booted up:
C:\Program Files\TimeSink\AdGateway\TSADBOT.EXE
This information includes: Marital Status, Household Income, Gender, Job Function,
Education, Year of Birth, State/Province, Country, Postal or Zip Code, and Interests.
-Deliver marketing campaigns
to your targeted customer base
-Solicit feedback from your customers with targeted surveys
-Access detailed and accurate daily online reports, including:
-Determine product usage times
-Determine product usage frequency
-Determine product life cycle
-Click through metrics
-Demographic and geographic analysis
-Distribution activity
Removal Instructions for Conducent/Timesink
Also known as Blackstone Data "Transponder". The Blackstone company seems to have disappeared, to be replaced by VX2, but apart from the filename and the registry key name, the VX2 software is identical. This is one of the very worst offenders around at the moment, and definitely worth getting rid of. VX2 launches pop-up advertising at times when the web browser is actively in use. While the user is browsing the Web, it will pop up advertisements based on what page is being visited, what's being searched for, how quickly the user is surfing, etc.VX2 admits to tracking pages visited and information entered into forms (even on secure sites), and your machine's software and hardware configuration. The software updates itself silently and VX2 reserve the right to have it automatically install other "third party software", which could do anything at all with VX2 disclaiming responsibility. VX2 is stealth-installed by version 0.608 of the AudioGalaxy satellite, so likely to become very widespread. The older Blackstone Data "Transponder" was distributed with all Mindset Interactive software, including on its own under the name "NetPal". It seems likely that Mindset and VX2 are closely related, possibly the same people.
Removal Instructions for VX2 - Transponder
Cydoor (www.cydoor.com)
This technology extends the reach of the web, and can be activated both in online and offline modes. The technology's architecture can be integrated into any software program.
Cydoor can update or rotate banner ads not only when users are online, but also when they are offline.
Users who download Cydoor enabled software
-Cydoor's Server tracks users with a unique code that is given to each user -This way Cydoor can send customized ads to targeted users.
Partners: Amazon, CDNow, eAds
Removal Instructions for Cydoor
This is another Browser-Helper-Object
parasite.
FlashTrack adds pop-up adverts to targeted sites and terms entered into known
search engines. FlashTrack's privacy policy is unenlightening, but their description
makes it seem very likely they are monitoring everything the user does on-line.
There are registry entries to do with updates but that might just be for the
targeted site lists. Recent versions of iMesh are known to come with FTApp,
along with many other parasites. However, whilst the click-through license does
describe the other parasites and one can choose not to install them, FlashTrack
is not mentioned, and installs silently regardless of the settings.
Removal Instructions for FlashTrac
CometCursor (www.cometcursor.com)
Comet Cursor is a browser
extension that gives websites the power to change the cursor, substituting any
image or animation instead of the arrow.
From the perspective of information collection there are two main versions of
the Comet Cursor. One is the version of the Comet Cursor which is bundled with
RealPlayer 7. This version is not issued a GUID. All other versions of the Comet
Cursor contact theire servers to record logs with theire cursor impressions
using a GUID (Globally Unique IDentifier). When you download the Comet Cursor
software, it is issued a GUID from their servers. Using this GUID, they can
keep track of how many people are using the software. The GUID is also used
every time the software contacts theire servers when they log cursors changing.
Collecting such statistics is an audit mechanism they use. Second, the software
checks in to see if a new version of the Comet Cursor software is available.
If there is a bug fix or version upgrade available for the Comet Cursor, the
software will retrieve the new code and replace the outdated code. Comet Systems
receives standard web log information: cookies, referer id's, IP addresses and
system information
Websites (www.cometsystems.com , www.cometzone.com, www.livecursors.com and www.mycometcursor.com)
Removal Instructions for CometCursor
webHancer is one of the less openly harmful browser parasites in common use, but that's no reason to keep it installed on your system. It doesn't "webhance" anything at all. Webhancer sells itself as a tool for profiling performance on client web sites, not as an advertising programme. Webhancer collects names and performance evaluations of sites you visit. There are unconfirmed security issues since there are suspicious strings in the webHancer executable that could indicate an auto-update feature. There are many reports of people losing their internet connectivity thanks to webHancer fiddling with the settings. Trying to uninstall the program may cause problems, especially with older versions of webHancer. The distribution of this is very widespread, partly thanks to being bundled with file-sharing programs.
Removal Instructions for WebHancer
Onflow is a player for animated advertising. Onflow's raison d'Ętre is to play adverts. But it should only affect partner websites. The Onflow player calls back to Onflow's servers when an advert is played. This isn't much more harmful than a normal banner advert; there is no evidence that it spies on the rest of your browsing. It is installed quietly by a wide range of applications, games and even other parasites! Unlike most parasites, OnFlow affects Netscape and Opera as well as Internet Explorer. Although as far as I know Onflow is not in itself very harmful, its stealth-installation tactics are questionable, and you don't get anything for installing it, other than slightly more annoying adverts.
Removal Instructions for Onflow
Web3000 (www.web3000.com)
The ad goes right on the browser - above the of banner ads. And it travels with you to all the sites you visit.
You will see text messages on the upper right corner of your browser. There are also "splash screen" or "pop-up" offers, and a button in the lower right area of your screen. They analyzing the number of users who visit particular pages, and the amount of time they spend there. They also analyze the incoming addresses for the purpose of statistical analysis of theire user. If you are using i.e. NetSonic Internet Accelerator or NetSonic Pro while visiting Web3000.com, NetSonic may identify you as a NetSonic user and supply unique information about your NetSonic registration to the web3000 site. This information is used to personalize the site for the user, to provide technical support, and to gather additional statistical information.
Removal Instructions for Web3000
He's your interactive friend and traveling companion on the Internet! He walks, talks, sings, browses and searches the Internet with you. That's according to the website...he's also very annoying.
Removal Instructions for Bonzi Buddy
Go Hip is a website directory similar to Yahoo and a number of other search directories. The problem is it has a link on the very top of the page entitled "Click Here To Make GoHip! Your Default Search". This file changes information in your Windows registry so when you click on the Search button at the top of Internet Explorer it opens GoHip!. Many times it also changes your start page to be GoHip's as well. Since the change is in the Windows Registry, its harder to remove than most installations.
Removal Instructions for GoHip's Browser Enhancement
Not all cookies are bad, they provide useful functions on the web, however, it is a data stream that flows back and forth from your computer to the various web sites you might visit. In most cases, not only does the storage of this personal information into a cookie go unnoticed, so does access to it. Web servers automatically gain access to relevant cookies whenever the user establishes a connection to them, usually in the form of Web requests. The data these cookies collect and transmit can vary greatly and many contain vital personal information about you which is not always properly encripted. If you use the web to transact on line shopping, look up phone numbers or access web sites that require you to enter personal data that information can be stored in various cookie files on your computer.
Unfortunately, the original intent of the cookie has been subverted by some unscrupulous entities who have found a ways to use this process to actually track your movements across the Web. Many giant marketing & advertising companys like DoubleClick have set up affiliate partnerships with other web sites to install the marketing companies cookies on your computer and requiring that the web site then transmit the information back to them. This has developed into a mass networking of shared information across large numbers of participating web sites that share this marketing cookie.
Additional Information & Removal Instructions for Cookies
It is highly recommend that users remove these types of parasitic proograms. Most of the spyware and adware programs listed here (as well as several others not listed) can be removed with the assistance free programs such as Ad-Aware from Lavasoftusa.com orSpybot. We recommend that users scan their computers with both of these programs as an added precaution and update them regularly. Both are free programs designed to remove spyware and adware off of your computer. (Please note that most spyware and adware programs are not detected by standard anti-virus programs and can only be removed with reputable spyware removal programs.)
We also recommend that after removing
spyware from your computer that you permanently protect your computer with a
personal firewall such a Download ZoneAlarm Proor
McAfee Personal Firewall
These programs will alert you to any attempts to access your computer while
you are surfing on line as well let you know if any program on your computer
that might be attempting to send data out from your computer without your knowledge.
These are the most highly recommended firewall programs around. It is also advised
that you use a good Anti-Virus program and keep it updated regularly.
Click Here to review a list of products that include these adware components.