spyware

what can be done about it.

[madbrad]

Please Help!

I'm kind of a newbie to all this. How can I stop WhenU, Gator, and other advertisors from showing pop-up ads on my site.
Other posts have suggested deleting their spyware from my computer. However, this does not fix the problem because visitors to my site are still being shown all the pop-up ads if they have the spyware on their computer. Is there any thing that can be done to solve this?

[msr986]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld madbrad! Make sure you check out our Welcome Post [webmasterworld.com].

> Is there any thing that can be done to solve this?

Yes, they need to delete the spyware from their computer.

Unfortunately, this is the only solution.

[deejay]

well, there are a few things..

you can put a pop-up blocker script on your pages... which may or may not work.

you can educate your users by including information on your site, including removal instructions or tools... which may or may not work and will take time.

if it is overwriting of your network affiliate codes that you are wanting to avoid:

> one or more of the networks (can't remember which - CJ perhaps?) have a code to append to their links that theoretically stops some of the parasites overwriting.

> you can mask your affiliate links with a redirect.

> you can choose your merchants carefully, avoiding those affiliated with parasites.

But there's no one-stop solution unfortunately.

[2oddSox]

You could, of course, take the position that the pop-up ads and 'spyware' are there because a bunch of businessmen, programmers, designers, support staff, admin people etc, all got together to promote some products made by a bunch of other people. Thus keeping all and sundry in jobs, feeding their families, promoting the economy, and lessening the burden on our collective tax dollars.

Heck, from what I gather, there are even some people here at WW that make a decent living from surreptitious advertising of one kind or another ;)

So by tolerating these ads, we're actually doing our bit for the economy :)

Now, this is not necessarily the opinion of this writer, but it's certainly one way of dealing with the problem ;)

2odd...

[Mike_Mackin]

>you can educate your users by including information on your site, including removal instructions or tools... which may or may not work and will take time.

EXAMPLE [google.com]

[madbrad]

Why can't we just get a program that will delete the spyware from the users computer and have it automatically download when the user downloads a free screensaver, mp3 file, etc. That's how a lot of the spyware gets on their computer to begin with.

[deejay]

*LOL* mmm... no... I don't think you'd find a lot of support for that from your users, and your tool would probably get classified as a "virus".

"uh.... so wait.. with these other guys I get to have this neat accessory/whatever for a few pop up ads..." (assuming they even notice they're agreeing to pop-ups) "but with YOUR neat accessory/whatever... you're gonna start DELETING stuff from my machine?! WTF?"

Imagine the potential for misuse and the damage it would do to your rep when a hacked version of your little tool starts deleting mission critical stuff.

Imagine the lawsuit potential from the parasites.

Imagine whymadbradsucks.com surpassing WebmasterWorld in Alexa ranking *horrors*