Be Aware of Spyware
Written: Oct 01 '00 (Updated Jul 05 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Free Spyware Detection Utility
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: AD-Aware does an effective job of identifying and removing potential spyware.
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| lap0530's Full Review: AD-Aware |
Parasitic spyware programs pervade freeware, shareware, and program demo downloads. These programs frequently install themselves on the unsuspecting user’s hard drive without the explicit knowledge or consent of the user. Some of the spyware purveyors are honest about their intentions, but even then, this information is buried in the fine print of the End User License Agreement (EULA). Many users, including myself until just recently, simply click on “Accept” when the license is displayed, leaving the details of what the spyware vendor is doing unread in the license.
What Exactly IS Spyware?
Spyware is any program that uses the Internet connection of the user without his or her explicit knowledge or consent. These programs are most commonly installed when someone downloads a freeware or shareware program or a demo version of a program. Many seemingly innocent accessories, and even genuinely useful utilities such as Gator and Go!Zilla, are sometimes secretly collecting user information for the purpose of targeting advertising.
The spyware programs are used to customize the advertising content that appears in the banner section of these “free” programs. Often the user is asked for information concerning interests, income, spending habits, marital status, and other personal matters when registering or first launching the program. Not only is this information sent to advertisers, but some spyware programs also continue to track user surfing habits, logging site visits and other private information. When the program that installed the spyware is removed, quite often the spyware is not. Buried deep in the system registry, these programs continue to send demographic and usage patterns, and sometimes information about the user's computer to advertisers without the Internet user’s awareness.
Common Spyware Purveyors
Spyware can be embedded in any software program. Some of the most common spyware products are the following (source: http://www.lavasoft.de):
Aureate/Radiate (www.radiate.com)
This company, founded in 1996, provides a technology that can target audiences, display ads even when the user is not connected to the Internet, collect demographic information from the user, and log usage habits. Popular programs using Aureate/Radiate include Cute FTP 3.0/3.5, Get Right 4.1, Go!Zilla 3.5, ReGet 1.6, and many more.
Conducent/Timesink (www.conducent.com)
This technology uses the Internet to deliver dynamic targeted content and then collects user information such as click-through data and sends this back to Conducent for daily reporting. Many educational, entertainment, and productivity programs, including my beloved CoffeeCup HTML (free version) use Conducent/Timesink, which is routinely distributed by Lycos, ZDNet, Xoom, Cnet, and other shareware/freeware vendors.
Web3000 (www.web3000.com)
This software provides ads directly to the browser, but then stays with the user, traveling to all sites one visits. Web300 analyzes the number of users who visit a particular page, the amount of time spent there, and other statistical information. For example, if one is using NetSonic, a web accelerator program, unique information about one’s NetSonic registration is sent to Web3000 when one visits that site.
Gator (www.gator.com)
Gator, an accessory for filling out forms and remembering passwords, also maintains an encrypted file on the user’s hard drive with one’s IP address. Gator collects information on one’s web usage and reports aggregate data about customers, traffic patterns, and related site information.
How Can One Eliminate Spyware?
Be apprised that removing the spyware in some cases, such as Go!Zilla, will cause the application program no longer to work. In other cases, removing spyware will simply result in the user receiving a generic ad in his or her banner window for freeware, shareware, and demo programs.
Ad-aware 3.61, available from www.lavasoft.de, is a product similar to Steve Gibson’s OptOut (http://grc.com/optout.htm). Both are freeware programs (without embedded spyware, of course). Ad-aware is a very small, but powerful utility. I downloaded the self-extracting program, which is a 258K file. There is also a very informative text file that lists all currently known spyware available for download from Lavasoft’s site. I installed the program, but first ran OptOut before launching Ad-aware. OptOut, which had originally found and destroyed more than twenty spyware files, told me there were no known spyware programs on my computer.
Ad-aware works by scanning the user’s system memory, registry, hard drive, and boot disk. The program can be optionally configured to play an alert sound if spyware is found. OptOut is excellent, and I have been quite happy with it. However, Ad-aware found an additional 31 suspicious files, including Comet Cursor DLLs (I had already uninstalled Comet Cursor, but these files remained), Aureate/Radiate files, and Conducent/Timesink files. Ad-aware gave me the option of recording a log of the located files and of selectively removing any or all of these files. I opted to have them all eliminated.
I certainly understand why companies use targeted advertising to support free software, but my concern with the spyware vendors is their lack of full and complete disclosure. My view is that if a program uses spyware to collect users' personal information, then the free price is too much to pay for the loss of privacy. Furthermore, if the free program refuses to work without its spyware component, then I will be quite satisfied not to use the program at all. I am, however, very thankful that I had already registered my version of CoffeeCup HTML editor, so that it is no longer using spyware.
Since learning about the existence and the pervasive nature of these spyware programs, I have become both less enthralled with “free” downloads and far more suspicious of Internet advertisers. My advice is for the user to install both OptOut AND Ad-aware to make sure that personal information is not being leaked out of his or her computer and into the hands of unscrupulous advertisers.
Recommended:
Yes
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lap0530
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Psychology and management professor and business consultant
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