I’m pleased Ad-aware proved useful Flycatcher, for both yourself and Slosh. As the enquiries I have made through relevant government offices are taking the length of time you would expect them to take, I tackled Gator Corporation myself by email. They responded and were not readily prepared to accept that I could have Gator files on my computer unless I had downloaded a free program containing their files. I pointed out that I had checked my computer on the day their last files appeared just prior to going on the web and it was clear, then checked again when I disconnected and found their files had downloaded again, possibly having caused the crash that had occurred. They sent me a list of free programs available that contained their files, asking which I had on my computer, I went back again and pointed out that I had none of the programs, nor had I ever had any of them.
Their next excuse was that my Internet security settings must be too low and that ActiveX must be automatically downloading to my computer. I replied that my settings for ActiveX are at prompt and I had no prompts on their file downloads or in fact any indication whatsoever that a Gator download was occurring. The last email asked me to send them the files if it should happen again, so they could try to decide what was happening, they must be the only ones that don’t know. I asked them more than once to explain to me what the Gator files I had found on my computer related to in relation to any program of their’s, they just continually ignored that question. I tackled Gator because in my case they have been the biggest problem, but there are certainly many others.
Dave
I’m not a lawyer but I would think that secret installation of software without notification or approval might be covered by some kind of intrusion or vandalism laws, especially as a material change (magnetic encoding on the hard drive) has occurred
I agree!
Since my first ‘power on’ back in 1999, 114 components were placed on my computer.
Thank you DM for this enlightening post.
I was going to work on a halloween image this weekend but now I m going to do alittle more research into stuff like this.
Once again, thank you so much!
My experience closely mirrors yours, DM. Only one of the files (Comet Cursor) was downloaded with a free program I had actually installed (a chess game), and that without my knowledge. I have had this one pop up on numerous occasions, but have always said no. The biggest offender in my case however was Aureate, accounting for over 90% of the components found.
I also have my Active X setting at prompt, and have never yet permitted one to proceed, so Gator raising that as the loophole is pure BS.
Good luck with your campaign against this scumware.
Thankyou Dave for informing us of the adware. I downloaded the program from your link a couple of days ago. When I ran it I was shocked that it detected 86 files of adware on my pc.
I’ve really been ‘Ad’. 
I think it was mainly due to a recent full installation of Kazaar and not unchecking the promotional sofware components (pesky younger bruvs fault)
I’m running the program daily, but still can’t get rid of a persistant Aureate registry link. :mad:
Well I’m glad a few more people are getting rid of these advertising hijackers, just this week I read in an internet magazine a letter from someone trying to get rid of Gator files and getting a cannot delete message. The magazine explained that these spyware program’s are running all the time, so when you start up the computer they start with your other start-up programs and said to delete them they would have to stop them running. They then went on to say the best solution was to get Ad-aware as that would deal with them, so maybe Ad-aware stops them running.
On your problem with Aureate registry key Grub, perhaps it might be worthwhile to go to the Lavasoft/Ad-aware site and put a question on their forum about this one sticking item, they may be able to solve it.
Dave
Hello Zbrusher of Horse Trojan 
Cheval de Troie in french
You don’t think that this marvelous programm who detect invasion is not also a very perfidious Trojan himself ?
You are very trustful and guileless !
We are dancing on the volcano
Pilou the paranoiac
When dancing on a volcano Frenchy, it always pays to have flame proof shoes. 
Dave
Your shoes will never enough heatproof
Pilou the fireman of Vulcan
Another old saying that relates to this issue, “In the end it is not the shoe’s that save the feet when dancing on the volcano, it is the cautious person inside them“. : Confusedus.
Joking aside, If you have any serious doubts about Ad-aware go to this PC World link, http://www.pcworld.com/features/article/0,aid,97429,pg,4,00.asp they gave the program an award.
Of course you could choose to dispute their research and that of other reputable computer magazines. That of course is between you and them and for you to tell them what you think, based on whatever research you have done, or not as the case may be .
Dave
Try the site below to check your firewall. I have also found ZoneAlarm to help a lot in reducing a lot of spyware, popups and banner adds. If you use filesharing programs they are notorious for spyware, and the most popular one K*****a is the worst.
I have used AdAware since version 3.X and have found it excellent, The pro version is even better. http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/BandwidthResults.asp
DeeVee.
Thanks for that link DeeVee, there is a lot of useful content on the site. 
Dave
DM here is another for you to try ! http://www.dslreports.com/stest.
A lot of useful information here also if you spend any time on the net.
DeeVee
Double post, sorry!
Thanks for the added link DeeVee, I will take a look at that site today. Even with all the recomended precautions, I appreciate at times it is still possible to get a virus, Trojan or scumware, but it’s always better to try all you can to stop it. I have had friends who have laughed at the chance that anything would affect their computers,using out of date virus scans if any and no firewall. Then something happens and they loose work of value to them, oh what a change of heart occurs then.
Dave
That same program is on my computer, and I have no Idea where I got it from. You are absolutely right, it should be illegal. Nobody ever told me I was installing <i>that</i> on my computer.
and for those of you experiencing problems with Email, don’t be fooled when the email says “reply a blank email to unsuscribe.” If you don’t reply, just delete them, the spammers have no way of knowing if your address is valid. Also, never give your email address to anyone who doesn’t say they wont give it to someone else! At pixologic.com, for instance, when asking for a new demo password, the page specifically says “we wont give your email address to anybody.” ( Pixologic! ) If you need to give a web site your email address say, to download some freewhare, you can give them an address that is only for strangers to contact you by. For me, for example, whenever a web page asks me for my email address, I say [email protected]. It is a real address, and it is mine, however, nobody I really want to talk to emails me there, because that’s npot the email address I tell them. Also, all of these email filters are excellent ideas, but tend to delete some things that you might not want to get rid of. Most spam-blocking programs use two strategies to stop crap mail from getting to you.
-
read the email and look for key words such as “sexy”, “$”, and “buy.” My friends send me emails with those words in them all the time, so this would prevent me from getting some emails that I would want to receive.
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Blocking mail from certain addresses. VERY effective. If you receive some junk mail, just add the sender to your list of blocked addresses.
If you want a good email filter, you should use one that only uses the latter.
One final comment about keeping your computer safe from malicious email is beeing carefull of your attachments. Only open attachments sent to you by friends, and if your friend says “look at this pic,” and the file is a .bat, than beware, cuz that attachment is most likely a virus.
David
… and now for the bad news. Far from making this sort of scumware illegal, I read in last months .net Magazine that there are currently attempts in the USA to push through legislation that would make it illegal for consumers to try and remove adware from their systems! The commercial interests behind this are trying to make out that it is an infringement of copyright to do so.
This is on top of other legislation under consideration to allow big media corporations to hack into user’s PCs if they suspect that they may be using filesharing software to copy protected material illegally. There is also the suggestion that they might use virsu attacks to bring the PCs down. In one sense that doesn’t bother me, as I have never used such software nor am ever likely to. What does worry me more is that they are trying to tie it up so that any innocent party so targeted has no right of come-back against them!
… Oh and I forgot to mention, these same corporate giants would like it made illegal for users to switch graphics off in their browsers, as this means the page wouldn’t be viewed as the originators intended - translation: you wouldn’t see their adverts.
Ain’t life grand?
Thanks for that information FC, not good news as you say. Will they make it illegal to reformat as that is the ultimate way to get rid of garbage on the computer? Perhaps there will be a clause in the law that says you have to copy their spyware to CD so that after a reformat you can reinstall it for them. This would probably need to be backed up with a note, giving your excuses as to why they were unable to extract information from your computer for a short while. If anybody doesn’t believe big brother has arrived, then they are not looking closely enough.
On the media thing, whilst fully supporting the rights of companies to protect their products copyright, it must be carried out under proper legal restraints with official bodies investigating where there is evidence of products being pirated. If they give companies the right to hack computers, you can imagine the abuse a law like that would create. I think if we value justice and democracy, then it is down to all of us to make sure that we are heard.
The most recent experience for me on the spyware front came last week when my wife bought PCFormat magazine, which had Mahjongg Masters which she wanted, on the free CD. Shortly after it was installed I ran one of my now regular Ad-aware scans which discovered Timesink/conducent spyware on my hardisk, I deleted it with Ad-aware and wondered where I had got it from. The next time we tried to open Mahjongg we found out, the Timesink/conducent file, tsad.dll, was part of the program.
I rang PCFormat editorial office on Monday morning, asked them if it was shareware, they said no they had bought it, so I advised them of the problem and they took my phone number saying they would investigate. In the meantime I went to the Egames site, they are the games producer and found some information on their privacy page. It stated that some of their software carried Timesink advertising files, followed by info about how Timesink used your hard disk to organize advertising on the net. I thought it was nicely blurred, so that you might believe this was for your benefit and of no gain to Time sink. Well for those that didn’t want this wonderful addition, (Egames sell their products outright, they are not shareware), there is this magic patch that uninstalls Timesink and replaces it.
I downloaded the patch, reinstalled Mahjong, followed instructions like make sure you are disconnected from the net, make sure background programs are shut down, I couldn’t shut down Timesink of course, as it doesn’t appear on close programs. I then watched the wonderful display as the patch searched for timesink, then it was all over, a mystical Dos screen came up to tell me all was clear. The instructions told me to check the Mahjongg folders in program files and make sure no advertisers files were left, Yippee all clear. Well just to be on the safe side I ran Ad-aware again, you will never guess what I found, well maybe you will, Timesink tsad. dll, resting comfortably in C\Windows. My research into Timesink suggested that their files remained even after you uninstalled the program they came with, I tested that and sure enough the game went but the file stayed, it now included a buddy, the Timesink patch that I had downloaded.
Well cheers for Ad-aware it got rid of them, maybe Egames should ditch the patch and get Ad-aware, their games would not work of course, but is that a loss. I emailed them with my feelings on the matter, no reply yet, I forwarded the email to PCFormat and rang them again today, they again took my phone number, no reply yet. So far Gator have proved they are the only ones with an email facility that emails out, even if their replies are pathetic.
Dave
There is a simple solution for all of that !
Have 2 computers !
One connected for for the Net. A
One without connection for the rest. B
And never transmission A -> B
B -> A possible but just with CD or disk (on protected mod)
Some cost indeed :’(
Pilou