Marye (and everyone else) -

> If you use or recommend use of programs such
> as Kazaa, and Gator, you're promulgating the
> thievery. Such programs are used to implant
> spyware and thiefware on unsuspecting users
> which allows this kind of thing to go on.

Kazaa has some other issues you might not be aware of. There was an article about them awhile back. Danged if I can remember where but I know it was online. Anyway, buried deep in their EULA, (end user license agreement), you are agreeing to allow them to use your computer to basically do whatever they wish whenever they wish. So if you click the Agree button, you just agreed to allow them to do that. How are they able to do this? Well, the same technology, called peer-to-peer, that allows you to get music through them, allows them to get to your machine. When I showed this to my 16 yo son, I finally got him to quit installing Kazaa as he agreed it wasn't a real good idea to give them that kind of control.

AFA Gator, I read just the other day that a judge somewhere slapped a restraining order on them. Oh. I think it had to do with a lawsuit from the NY Times and some other folks. I think Dien might have posted the link.

Bonzi Buddy is another one to be careful of.

So how can you protect yourself against this trash? Often, simply removing the spyware isn't enough because it leaves little pieces behind that still "phone home." I would highly recommend downloading and periodically using Ad-Aware from Lavasoft. You can get it from www.lavasoftUSA.com. Last time I checked, it was free. I run it every so often to make sure that my son hasn't unknowingly downloaded some new piece of spyware or scumware. It's normally pretty accurate. I did get a bit of a surprise this morning though. It reported a false positive on a piece of software I'm developing for a client in Wisconsin! To my knowledge *g*, I haven't included any spyware components in it!!!

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"


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