mary
Dormant account
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2000
Your computer is most likely infected with "spyware"--marketing software that you unknowingly downloaded and installed, piggy backing on something else.
Here's one of the current culprits:
Programs: Ads Nauseam from America Online, GAIN
Sun Jan 26, 3:26 PM ET Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Gene Emery
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Reuters) - It's time for another edition of Amazingly Annoying Software. Today's contestants are the latest update of AOL Instant Messenger and GAIN -- a mini-program that floods your computer with pop-up ads.
[AIM diatribe deleted.]
But AOL is just a minor annoyance compared with GAIN, which stands for Gator Advertising & Information Network.
If you get an incredibly large number of pop-up advertisements when you surf the Internet, you may have GAIN or GAIN-type software on your computer.
And, in many cases, you may not realize it.
It showed up on my PC after my son downloaded free video compression software. The GAIN mini-program was flooding our computer with ads, and it took some effort to figure it out.
GAIN promised that when the video compression software is removed, the ads would disappear as well. It didn't happen.
The company's Web site had no directions for removing the program manually, so I had to e-mail Gator for instructions. (The company, to its credit, responded promptly.)
The real problem is that the request to download GAIN sometimes pops up when you're loading a Web site, making it appear that it's a mini-program like Flash, Adobe Acrobat or RealOne Player that must be installed to view the Web page properly. In fact, it's just a request, couched as an offer to give you some free software, to swamp you with ads.
Not only that, GAIN tracks your movements as you surf the Web.
Gator isn't the only offender here. Xupiter has a similar system and reserves the right to show you as many ads as it wants and requires that you give up control of which Web page you visit when you log on to the Internet.
(If you want to sue them, by the way, Xupiter says its agreement users governed by the laws of Hungary.)
Folks who read the fine print will learn what they're getting into. But few are likely to do that. (Gator's agreement is over 5,500 words.)
Let me save you some trouble.
Unless you love advertisements, any pop-up message that mentions The Gator Corporation or Xupiter should be declined.
Otherwise, you risk ending up in Advertisement Hell.
.............................................
Mary again:
Ad-Aware will get rid of GATOR and similar programs. Or, if you are running Zone Alarm as your firewall, be a nice user and pay them some $$$. In return, you'll get an upgraded version of Zone Alarm and Pest Patrol, Zone Lab's Spyware sniffer and deleter.
Welcome to the 21st century. Keep your patches up to date, run a firewall, run anti-virus software, screen for cookies, and run anti-Spyware.
Here's one of the current culprits:
Programs: Ads Nauseam from America Online, GAIN
Sun Jan 26, 3:26 PM ET Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Gene Emery
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Reuters) - It's time for another edition of Amazingly Annoying Software. Today's contestants are the latest update of AOL Instant Messenger and GAIN -- a mini-program that floods your computer with pop-up ads.
[AIM diatribe deleted.]
But AOL is just a minor annoyance compared with GAIN, which stands for Gator Advertising & Information Network.
If you get an incredibly large number of pop-up advertisements when you surf the Internet, you may have GAIN or GAIN-type software on your computer.
And, in many cases, you may not realize it.
It showed up on my PC after my son downloaded free video compression software. The GAIN mini-program was flooding our computer with ads, and it took some effort to figure it out.
GAIN promised that when the video compression software is removed, the ads would disappear as well. It didn't happen.
The company's Web site had no directions for removing the program manually, so I had to e-mail Gator for instructions. (The company, to its credit, responded promptly.)
The real problem is that the request to download GAIN sometimes pops up when you're loading a Web site, making it appear that it's a mini-program like Flash, Adobe Acrobat or RealOne Player that must be installed to view the Web page properly. In fact, it's just a request, couched as an offer to give you some free software, to swamp you with ads.
Not only that, GAIN tracks your movements as you surf the Web.
Gator isn't the only offender here. Xupiter has a similar system and reserves the right to show you as many ads as it wants and requires that you give up control of which Web page you visit when you log on to the Internet.
(If you want to sue them, by the way, Xupiter says its agreement users governed by the laws of Hungary.)
Folks who read the fine print will learn what they're getting into. But few are likely to do that. (Gator's agreement is over 5,500 words.)
Let me save you some trouble.
Unless you love advertisements, any pop-up message that mentions The Gator Corporation or Xupiter should be declined.
Otherwise, you risk ending up in Advertisement Hell.
.............................................
Mary again:
Ad-Aware will get rid of GATOR and similar programs. Or, if you are running Zone Alarm as your firewall, be a nice user and pay them some $$$. In return, you'll get an upgraded version of Zone Alarm and Pest Patrol, Zone Lab's Spyware sniffer and deleter.
Welcome to the 21st century. Keep your patches up to date, run a firewall, run anti-virus software, screen for cookies, and run anti-Spyware.
