'Pop-up' firm seeks to block spyware act

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 6/11/2004 | Glen Warchol

[isom35]

I'm no lawyer, but can it be argued that the pop-ups and spy-ware are intruding on private property? or would they argue that they are like an incoming phone-call, which we do not have to answer?

[Dec31,1999]

Try the "offbyone" browser. You can get it at download.com. It's real fast, reads FR great and NO pop-ups, because the technology used is too simple for pop-up programs. Downloads in 3 minutes, even on dialup.

The only problem with it is that when you refresh a thread, it reposts your last comment!

[pickemuphere]

Mozilla Firefox and Pop-Up Stopper Pro make an unbeatable combination. Run AdAware daily for added protection.

We gave up on IE after my wife picked up some nasty spyware from a recipe site. It took days to clean all of the programs and cookies from our computer.

[Dec31,1999]

That would be my argument, as well.

[JoJo Gunn]

It could be a LOT worse.

I wonder if you really appreciate just how much worse it really is out there.

You ought to haunt just this one forum alone, dedicated to spyware and viruses. After a while, you'll come to see it really is much worse than clicking and smiling. (If anyone needs help, they can't go wrong posting here. AnnMarie in particular really knows her stuff).

CyberTech "cyber safety" forum

[Poohbah]

Try PopThis! instead.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

WhenU maintains its advertising software, which is used by 21 million people each month, is only installed on computers with users' consent and does not gather private information.

I agree. I'm harboring serious doubts that people are buying products and services that come up on the pop-ups. Anymore, those damn things repel more customers than they attract. You might get a few extremely gullible or mentally ill people to do it, but I'm betting that skiffy company is making money off fraudulent credit card transactions.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Adaware has worked great for me.

[Dec31,1999]

IE is basically useless. Is there a way to clean it out or to fix it? When you get pop-ups in dial up, it takes over the entire bandwidth. IE used to work great 3 or 4 years ago.

I think pop-up perps should be fined or jailed.

[Poohbah]

I'm one of those sometimes slow to change, but after a month I'm a firm believer in Firefox, because I can't remember one single pop-up since installing it.

I tried Firefox. It doesn't work for me because I can't think in Russian.

[AmishDude]

I heard that WhenU has said nasty things about Islam and the prophet Mohammed in particular. Does anybody want to post their address and this fact to a jihadi message board?

[newgeezer]

a "pop-up" ad company

After lawyers and IRS auditors, these guys must be on everyone's sh*tlist.

[ninenot]

Try Ashampoo, which you can find on CNET. It's also a system utility, cleaner for registry, etc., etc.

Works great on my dialup; page loading did NOT degrade at all.

Only problem: you have to buy it--but they will negotiate a price with you. Take the 30-day test first.

[Squawk 8888]

As much as I despise spammers and popups, legislating against it is akin to using a high-power magnet to delete an unwanted file. Generally speaking, politicians are clueless about technology and layering on more regulations will just slow down development.

[Dec31,1999]

I'll have to try adaware again. I use the new spybot now, though.

[tsomer]

I'm a dud with computers, but one time I got fed up with someone forwarding stupid emails to me. After I requested they stop a couple of times, I forwarded all of the copies forwarded back to the offender's server. I don't even recall how I did it, but the term is "bombing," I think.
It worked.
Could something of that sort be devised for these parasites? Defensive approaches are hog-tying us.

[TankerKC]

WhenU lawyers told Fratto Utah's statute is the first attempt in the nation to directly regulate how and where advertising may appear on the Internet, which should be a matter of interstate commerce subject to federal, not state, jurisdiction.

Right. So now it is time to do something at the federal level. I've sent letters to my representative and senators and got nothing but a form letter back. This is not about the 1st Ammendment. These firms are stealing my processing time and bogging down my computer with their crap.

[TankerKC]

Yeah, I feel the same way about those pesky murder laws.

[Dec31,1999]

I doubt it. I'm no computer wiz, either. Just use spybot and adaware. Run them both and then find an alternate browser as suggested above. IE is terrible, as the scammers always find a way around its defenses precisely because it is the most used browser world-wide.

I'll tell you what. I'll try IE right now just to see how it goes. Been a long time, now.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Spyware can come in on regular websites, not just popups.