xupiter snagging google ads as "features"

not sure if I should compain about this or enjoy it

[amznVibe]

I just noticed something weird in my realtime site stats:
clicks from "xupiter.com" which appears only once in a thread here.
It appears to be using google for searches.

But it shows google ads as "featured" results, without the charge for the click (I think!) but I suspect xupiter.com is snagging google results without being "authorized" to do so?

I had a burst of adword clicks when this happened too so I am concerned that xupiter is going through the link somehow.

Any thoughts on this? Is it a good thing or bad?

[rcjordan]

I'll only add that I'm getting a small trickle of traffic (1 or 2 every day or so) from xupiter.

[jeremy goodrich]

No traffic here, but if they are doing something 'fishy' with google results, then more than likey (unless they are authorized) it will stop at some point...

As long as the traffic is good / converts :) why complain while it lasts?

[toddb]

Cool my google adword shows up right at the top of the search.

[amznVibe]

It is kinda interesting what xupiter is doing, but I've determined they are definitely going back through the adword click, so Google does charge you. My only worry now is false double and tripple clicks if they masqurade where the click is coming from. My logs are not clear on this. I guess if Google doesn't mind, I won't mind. I'm seeing only a few per day at this point. -aV-

[amznVibe]

I suspected as much, Xupiter is EVIL (and can't (easily) be removed with current 5.8 Ad-aware!)

[slashdot.org...]

...if you leave your security preferences at their default level, it will install itself without your express permission. And once on your system, it's gracious enough to reset your homepage to xupiter.com, forward all your searches to their search engine, download and automatically launch applications (like gambling applets), and blocks all attempts to set these back to normal...

[jeremy goodrich]

Gee, that sounds like just the kind of thing I was on my computer (not).