Patriotism? No, just more pop-ups (Spyware alert!)

msnbc ^ | 5/20/03 | Bob Sullivan

[finnman69]

It sounds innocent enough, even patriotic. "Show your support for our troops by downloading our free cursors!" says MyFreeCursors.com. One click, and your mouse pointer is an American flag. But that click will cost you. It gives the company behind the Web site, publicly traded eUniverse Inc., the right to watch your every move on the Internet.

"IT'S DIABOLICAL, and you can quote me on that," said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. A Web user complained to Givens after her child was almost tricked into downloading software from MyFreeCursors.com, software Givens called spyware. "They are using patriotism as the draw ... People come to this Web site with good intentions. Little do they know they're being set up for a spyware attack."

Those who are induced by the offer to "Remember our men and women in uniform" might not think to click on the tiny "Privacy" link at the bottom of the site. But it's essential reading. By downloading the software from MyFreeCursors, users also agree to install three other programs, including "KeenValue," which is made by eUniverse.

[finnman69]

Always be careful what you download or install on your computer.

[Zavien Doombringer]

As a Network Admin, there are alot of things I hate! The number 1 is AOL...next is WebShots, CometCursor, WinMX and Kazaa (not to be included with Kazaalite). These programs are designed to monitor everyones internet usage and what they are downloading and viewing. Your cookies can give away who you are and where you live in some instances. Hint: If you are recieving any porn material at home, and you have any of these programs running, you need to start asking questions to those who use that machine. Becareful out there, there are people watching you!

[mabelkitty]

How is this legal? Do they sign an agreement before downloading the software that specifically states they are invading one's privacy?

Not that I care. My machine has no more memory to download.

[KateUTWS]

What is your problem with WinMX?

[Zavien Doombringer]

No filters for viruses and Trojan horses. Nor do the servers contain those for faster download times. If you use WinMX, watch for files with double extensions and odd names (the letters are miss sized and underscored to fool virus detection in some scans)

[Jewels1091]

My hubbyhas 2 or 3 firewalls, and sometimes even the spam email tries to put a cookie on your machine. There is NOT one web site that doesn't. We have our computer set up that we have to decide if we want the cookie or not, and believe me on some sites I have had 4 different places try to put a cookie on. If you don't have the right firewall, you don't realize it, but just go into your temp internet file and you will see what has been put there by web sites! Get rid of them!

[Alouette]

CometCursor (aka "Vomit Cursor") embeds itself well and good into your system if you or (more commonly) one of your kids is tricked into installing it. Other stealthware to beware of are, Gator and Weathercast.

Fortunately there are "search and destroy" programs that will remove stealthware from your system and block any further attempts to install. ZD Net has a variety of "spyware" removal tools you can download, freeware, shareware and commercial software. I use "spybot" but Lavasoft "Ad-Aware" is also an excellent product.

[eyespysomething]

Don't forget Bonzai Buddy!

I was going to put the link to ZDNet download for SpyBot, but when I clicked the link to make sure it worked, SpyBot popped up that something was trying to load onto my computer. HA HA

I prefer SpyBot over AdAware, but have used both.

[Zavien Doombringer]

In most cases you are asked to fill out registration information and people do thinking it's harmless. WRONG!!! They just signed away the Privacy Act of 1974. Kazaa and Webshots have Gator (spy-ware), AOL in itself is a haven for viruses and trojans. If you use AOL, haven't you gotten an IM from someone you think knows you personally? Think about it for a minute. There are freaks of nature out there that have an abundance of tech knowledge (more than I do) that they use to beat the system and harm other users. They get a kick out of it. Others get info for monetary gain...It's all about money and power. Information means power.

Disk Space isn't memory, there is virtual memory that uses disk space. If you don't have any disk space left, may I suggest you clean up your drive or you WILL face an OS Crash... The computer will "hang" Windows requires page filing(virtual memory) to operate. Even though your drive may be full, what you have downloaded already could have a payload. Scan all files and frequently delete and defrag on a scheduled basis.

[KateUTWS]

Thanks for the heads-up, I find WinMX almost impossible to use because of long cues but I didn't know about the risks with phony file names. I'm glad I have anti-virus software running constantly. I did download a "full album" that turned out to be something other than it's stated title (yeah, James Last recorded an album about
mystical mushrooms....sure).

[Johnny Gage]

not to be included with Kazaalite).

I disagree.

KazaaLite has begun to load Porn in the opening "desktop" screen now and it's been hard to "shut it off"

Imagine my surprise to this, when I opened it up to let my 12 yr old look for some star wars music.

[Zavien Doombringer]

I haven't used Kazaalite in a while. It is possilble that they needed the money (isn't it funny when people need the money they resort to the porn business?). Kazaalite wasn't getting user support it had once hoped and was about to pull the plug. Sorry it had to go to the dregs

[Zavien Doombringer]

Don't forget Bonzai Buddy!

I did forget that purple ape!

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get rid of that program. Even after removing it from the registry and program files, it was still running and broadcasting over the internet! Killed it by using the easy method of Task Manager and finding the root program...what a head ache!:)

[Lokibob]

On www.freesaver.com , they have a screensaver for images from operation Iraqi Freedom. This screen saver is taken direct from the Air Force public relations.

Last night I downloaded the saver and when loading it, a license popped up requesting that they could put ad's on my computer. I declined and the set up quit (which was what I wanted).

I went to the Air Force web site (www.af.mil, I think), and downloaded the screen saver directly from there. No license, no ads, just neat pictures.

Although what they are doing is sleezy in my opinion, government stuff is not copyright material, since we paid for it already.

[Zavien Doombringer]

Turn off the Java console, or hit Alt-F4 to close the pop-ups. Installing Ad-ware and Pop-up stopper may eliminate some of the embarassment.

[eyespysomething]

And HotBar, ugh. I work in the IT dept, and no matter how many times we say it, people still think they are getting downloads for free (look at this neat thing, it tells me EXACTLY what time it is!)(I can put links instantly into my email * well duh, type the web addy *)!

Sorry, but if you work in Net Admin, you know what I am talking about. We actually had a lady scream at us that it wasn't all the stuff she had downloaded, it was tech support that made her computer so unstable.

[Zavien Doombringer]

UGH!!! Tell me about it.

User: My machine is acting funny.

Me: Tell it to behave.

me: Ok, what's the problem? User: My screen just turned blue and I can't move my mouse or type anything - something about dumping physical memory...

Me: Ok, put the mouse down slowly and step away from the computer...

Me: Now look behind the monitor and see if you see any of that memory that dumped.

User: No, there's nothing there.

Me: Ok, turn off the machine, turn it back on and see if it will reboot. You got lucky this time.

User: What do you mean?

Me: you just got physically dumped, it could have been worse.

.... I love the help desk calls :)

[zeugma]

For a better way to kill popups, see my sig...

[Billthedrill]

I tell my users it's a a broken ID-ten-T interface. In numerals it looks like: ID10T.

[Zavien Doombringer]

Old but effective insult :) I used it too much around here I have to use other forms of sarcasm :)