I also try to use download portals if the developer site does not offer direct downloads, for instance by forcing users to register or fill out a web form before downloads become available.

Today I wanted to download Dr.Web CureIt and the first site that came up in Google Search was Cnet’s Download.com.

I never had problems with downloads on Cnet before, but this one got me puzzled at first. Instead of allowing me to download the setup file directly, a 400 Kilobyte web installer was downloaded.

I first thought that the developers of CureIt had provided the installer, turned out I was wrong. Cnet, at least for this download and probably for all downloads on the site, is not offering direct links to those setup files anymore. Instead, a web downloader, called CNET Download.com installer, is provided.

This in itself is problematic as it means that users need to run the download.com installer first to download the setup file of the software that they initially wanted to download. That’s additional work for the user.

The real problem here however is that the web installer is pushing the Babylon toolbar. Users who do not pay attention to the download process will install the Babylon Toolbar, make Babylon their default search engine and homepage of their browsers.

Cnet is without doubt generating lots of revenue from the web installer, considering that the toolbar installation options are enabled by default, and that most users click Next Next Next when it comes to installation processes.

The CNET Download.com Installer is clearly adware. It might make sense to use a different download portal in the future, especially if you do not want to download the 400 Kilobyte web installer every time you download a file from the download site. Good alternatives are Softpedia and Major Geeks.

Have you encountered the CNET Download.com Installer? What’s your opinion?

Through adware these companies are actually collecting data about you so they can target your computer with advertising that will come up in parts as pop up windows or the computer can actually be hijacked and then all of your search options are then transported through the adware so the results that they want to bring to you can be filtered.This is very wrong and is actually very harmful to your computer. There is a whole host of things that can go wrong with a computer when it has been infected with adware and people are not afraid to say that they want a bunch of money to make it happen. These companies pay a lot of money to the adware companies to have their ads displayed on computers that the adware company has infected over the year. There is little that they can do about it because there is nothing illegal about adware at this time.

Adware is not illegal but that does not make it right either. The possibility of making a lot of mistakes and taking the information from the computer to use for several illegal activities and this will take away the confidence that some of the advertisers he in these adware companies and that can mean that some of the adware companies will actually start to go out of business and that is the best news that anyone can hear.

If you think that you have been infected with adware then you need to get a spyware cleaner that also handles the adware which a good many of them do. There is very little difference in the way that spyware and adware works so the cleaners should not have a problem in getting the whole thing cleaned. In most cases it is easy to get rid of adware as a simple delete can take place once the script is found but that is usually the hardest part because these companies know how to bury the script in the computer very well making it hard to find without a program

There is a huge difference between a cookie from a website which tracks your movement on that website / network of sites and a software that permanently phones home and transmits information about the computer, the software installed and the user.

Where does it come from ?

Many users are baffled when they find out that spyware is installed on their system. They have no idea how it was installed and most suspect that a malicious virus or worm installed it.

There are numerous ways how spyware can make it into your system:

1. Software:

Spyware could be a standalone software that a user installs on his system. The software is not labeled spyware of course and tries to trick the user most of the time making him believe its something else he is installing.

The second variation is more common, spyware comes bundled with software the user wants to install. Kazaa for instance has been famous for installing spyware in addition to the p2p software itself.

2. Websites:

Sometimes websites prompt the user to install a component or software before he is able to view the website. This can be some harmless plugin that is not installed on the users pc, like the macromedia flash player for instance which is not spyware, or a active x component that could install spyware on the users pc.

Some websites use security holes to install spyware without a prompt at all making it impossible for the average user to find out where this spyware came from.

A good advice would be to use a different browser than the Microsoft internet explorer. Its not a 100% safety measure though. You should never install something that you don´t know about. Better leave the website than installing spyware on your system.

First Look:

Sometimes you can tell that something is wrong with your system without using a program to verify it. It is slower than usual, you see network traffic to a site that you don´t know, a new toolbar appeared in your internet explorer or a webpage loads as the homepage that you did not choose. All of these could have the cause in spyware that was installed on your system.

You could check the task manager and have a look at the active processes of your computer and take a look at the installed software. Maybe this is enough to detect a tool that you did not install. If that is the case you might want to perform a search on the internet for the process or tool to find a solution that removes it again.

You could try to kill the process or uninstall the software but most of the time it is only a matter of time until it will appear again. It´s better to fight the root of the cause.

Good tools that could help you detect spyware are autoruns (lists all programs that are automatically started with windows), process explorer (better version of the process tab of the task manager, more options), Filemon (monitors file activity and shows dependencies) and finally Portmon (shows the systems open ports and applications that use them).

Second look:

If you think that spyware might be installed on your system you should use anti-spyware tools to detect them. No tool is perfect and its wise to use more than one. I suggest ad-aware se and spybot search & destroy for a first scan of the system.

Both tools detect a variety of spyware, ranging from cookies to worms. Just run a default scan and make sure you read the instructions from the homepage and the program itself before removing detected spyware.

Browser Hijacking:

The homepage that opens when you start your browser has been changed and it was not you. If you encounter this phenomena you might be the victim of a browser hijacking. To find out if that is the case use a software like CW-Shredder or Hijackthis to remove the thread and turn things back to normal.

Safety Measures:

1. Install a different browser than Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera are recommended. Use those to surf the web.
2. Keep your system up to date.
3. Know what you are doing. Don´t install suspicious software. Perform a web search before installing the software.
4. Keep your anti-spyware tool up to date. Perform regular scans.
5. Use an anti-virus tool. (antivir, clam)
6. Use a firewall.

Links that educate:

Spywareinfo.com
Spyware Removal Tutorials
Top 10 tricks causing spyware epidemic
Wikipedia Spyware