Big Borther is watching you!
Simon Clark 2000
My computer (running Windows 98) has been crashing on a regular basis for
the last month now. When I say "regular" I mean EVERY FREAKING TIME I use
Internet Explorer my computer becomes unstable. Sometimes when I try to
start a program after running IE the program crashes, but Windows ALWAYS
hangs when I shutdown. I have to wait for scandisk to run the next time I
start up etc.
Since the crashes only started around the last time I updated Windows, I
attributed this to a bug being introduced by Micro$ofts bozo programmers. I
waited patiently for a couple of weeks, checking Micro$ofts website
regularly to see if they had fixed it. I checked various newsgroups to see
if anyone else had similar problems -- but turned up empty. About a week
ago I decided to uninstall IE and reinstall it again in the hope that this
would fix the problem. It didn't work.
I had another look on Usenet again about a couple of hours ago and found
out what was going on.
Surprisingly the problem was nothing to do with Mircro$oft. It turned out
that some nasty "snooping" software had installed itself on my computer
without me knowing.
CLICK ---> http://grc.com/optout.htm
About halfway down that page is a list of software that also installs
the "snoopware" -- and that list includes Go!Zilla (http://www.gozilla.com).
Roughly one month ago I installed Go!Zilla. (I was having problems with net
access at the time.) About a week ago I uninstalled it because I didn't
like it very much. The "snoopware" was not uninstalled. (I didn't even know
it was there at the time!) When I installed Go!Zilla there were no clear
warnings that it also installed software to spy on you. Maybe it was in the
fine print...
Deleting two files seems to fix the problem. Now my computer doesn't crash
and Big Brother doesn't spy on me anymore. Probably...
One final rant: A few days ago when looking for a music video[1] I visited
some website that asked to install a plug-in so that I could view the
movies there. It was a movie viewer I didn't have so I decided let it
install.
Big mistake! It installs software that fixes IE so that it displays a
banner frame at the top of the browser window. The banner shows ads for
pr0n sites. Windows open at random intervals advertising "Free Sex!". It
also adds shortcut icons to your desktop, start menu and programs menu --
the icons read "Free Sex." YAY! FREE SEX!!! There is no uninstall option.
You can easily fix IE so that it doesn't show the banners. But when you
reboot, there they are again! (I suspect that if I had deleted those
shortcuts, they would have reappeared too.) The website this "turdware"
emanated from (gohit.com) has an uninstall program -- but you have hunt
around to find it. (I found the link on Usenet -- I also found that some
people seemed to actually put up with this plug-in!) Anyway, I uninstalled
it successfully -- no thanks to the bastards at gohit.com. (I forget where
the music video was -- but it wasn't gohit.com.)
LAUNCH.com has tons of (legal) music videos, including the one I was
looking for! Yay LAUNCH.com!
THIS IS NOT A SPAM!
--
Simon Clark 2000 - Urban Crime-Fighter
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/postgrad/clarksj/kibology/
"There must be some psychological explanation for this
behaviour of mine and perhaps the explanation reflects
somewhat of my theories of science."
-- Archimedes Plutonium 13Feb0060 ATOM!
[1] I WASN'T LOOKING FOR PR0N! IT WAS LOOKING FOR ME!!!
Also, "Big Borther!" HAW HAW!!!
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Peter Willard
2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon
Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000 said,Thu 23 Mar 2000 10:26:10a:
<...>
>About halfway down that page is a list of software that also installs
>the "snoopware" -- and that list includes Go!Zilla
>(http://www.gozilla.com).
>
<BLINK>
*****************************
http://www.drizzle.com/~petew <--THERE! CLICK THERE!
*****************************
</BLINK>
and use your browser's "find on this page" function, which you probably do
have, uh, search for `aureate' there's three links there, wayyyy down in
the vast middle bit. You should also read that slashdot article linked
there in the same paragraph. It's kind of funny, if you're into corporate
doubletalk and stuff. I wouldn't get too paranoid, unless you're doing
something wrong. You're *not* doing anything wrong, are you?
Life lesson: I think you should only install programs written by someone,
that is to say ONE (at least less than ten persons) person, you have
personally exchanged email with; if only to say hi and see if they write
back. You can replace all win95 warez with free/cheap handcrafted
equivalents. Like that Steve guy and his 100% pure assembly gizmos!
--
Peter Willard
``25 vegetables ANYONE can grow''
***********"Thagre tyvrora tynhora tybora!"
*KCBIWIYWI*VISIT BROWSE0TRON
***********http://www.drizzle.com/~petew
Simon Clark 2000
pe...@drizzle.com (Peter Willard) wrote:
: Yeh! What Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark
: 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon
: Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000 said,Thu 23 Mar 2000 10:26:10a:
: <...>
: >About halfway down that page is a list of software that also installs
: >the "snoopware" -- and that list includes Go!Zilla
: >(http://www.gozilla.com).
: >
: Cool! The Aureate saga continues! If you go to my page
: <BLINK>
: *****************************
: http://www.drizzle.com/~petew <--THERE! CLICK THERE!
: *****************************
:
: </BLINK>
: and use your browser's "find on this page" function, which you probably
: do have, uh, search for `aureate' there's three links there, wayyyy down
: in the vast middle bit. You should also read that slashdot article linked
: there in the same paragraph. It's kind of funny, if you're into corporate
: doubletalk and stuff. I wouldn't get too paranoid, unless you're doing
: something wrong. You're *not* doing anything wrong, are you?
They don't know about all those "ladyboy" pictures I downloaded do they?
I'd hate it if anybody found out about that!
It's not so much that they were sending information without my knowledge
that bothered me (it does though), but more that the software was installed
without my knowledge, and repeatedly crashed my computer. I had no idea
what was causing it to crash. (Apparently a window is supposed to pop up
after it is installed -- I never saw it.)
: Life lesson: I think you should only install programs written by someone,
GENIUS! Oh, sorry, there's more...
: that is to say ONE (at least less than ten persons) person, you have
: personally exchanged email with; if only to say hi and see if they write
: back.
Dear Mr Gates,
Hi! Write me sometime!
Your Friend,
Simon
: You can replace all win95 warez with free/cheap handcrafted
: equivalents. Like that Steve guy and his 100% pure assembly gizmos!
I hardly ever install software I find on the Internet. Particularly not
warez. After this experience I am even less likely to...
--
Simon Clark 2000 - Urban Crime-Fighter
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/postgrad/clarksj/kibology/
"There must be some psychological explanation for this
behaviour of mine and perhaps the explanation reflects
somewhat of my theories of science."
-- Archimedes Plutonium 13Feb0060 ATOM!
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Darla
>About halfway down that page is a list of software that also installs
>the "snoopware" -- and that list includes Go!Zilla
>(http://www.gozilla.com).
I think I only read this thread because of the goofy typo, BUT AM I GLAD I
DID!!
Win98 was crashing Vlad's system so often I made him disengage (<voice of
Picard> "Disengage!" </voice of Picard>) me from our LAN. He was pissed at
Win98's instability, and went out and bought Win2K. Today I read and
forwarded your post to him, and lo and behold, THE SNOOPWARE WAS ON HIS
SYSTEM TOO!!!
Many thanks for the warning, and the linx to the cure--- Vlad is very
properly grateful to his watchful and caring wife, which gets me 200 Golden
Shopping Points! YAY!
He does like Win2K better than Win98 anyway, but is happy to be rid of the
troublemaking snoopware (which apparently also paralyzed his CD-ROM drive,
because its working fine now that he's wiped out the snoopware). It's
impossible to determine how many of his previous crash/paralysis problems
were caused by deficiencies in Win98 and how many by the snoopware, but its
a sure bet that the latter was a factor.
THANK YOU, SIMON CLARK!! You're the best Simon ever!!!
Darla
--- kissitty kiss kiss kiss
--
"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've
never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching." ---Satchel Paige
Peter Willard
2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon
Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000 said,Thu 23 Mar 2000 10:26:10a:
>CLICK ---> http://grc.com/optout.htm
>
>
Thanks SC2K!!! Now I am totally stealthy &etc.
Peter Willard
WillardPeter WillardPeter WillardPeter WillardPeter WillardPeter Willard
said,Thu 23 Mar 2000 02:18:52p:
>Yeh! What Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark
>2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000Simon
>Clark 2000Simon Clark 2000 said,Thu 23 Mar 2000 10:26:10a:
>
>>CLICK ---> http://grc.com/optout.htm
>>
>>
>
>Thanks SC2K!!! Now I am totally stealthy &etc.
>
>
I heartily endorse ZoneAlarm for all windows victims. Even after I had the
firewall up and, supposedly, all ports were invisible, someone from AOL
tried to open an FTP connection to this box. I knew weird stuff like that
happened, but I put it out of my mind, after all I don't do anything
interesting...
Simon Clark 2000
"Darla" <darl...@sprint.ca> wrote:
: Simon Clark 2000 wrote:
:
: >About halfway down that page is a list of software that also installs
: >the "snoopware" -- and that list includes Go!Zilla
: >(http://www.gozilla.com).
:
: I think I only read this thread because of the goofy typo,
HAW HAW! MY SEKRIT PLAN TO MAKE PEOPLE READ MY POSTS WORKED!!!
: BUT AM I GLAD I DID!!
SO AM I!!!
: Win98 was crashing Vlad's system so often I made him disengage (<voice of
: Picard> "Disengage!" </voice of Picard>) me from our LAN. He was pissed
: at Win98's instability,
I know Windows is notoriously unstable but it was beyond a joke -- a
guaranteed crash every time!
: and went out and bought Win2K.
And that's supposed to make things BETTER?
: Today I read and
: forwarded your post to him, and lo and behold, THE SNOOPWARE WAS ON HIS
: SYSTEM TOO!!!
:
: Many thanks for the warning, and the linx to the cure
Well, the QUICKEST way to kill it is to just delete advert.dll and
amcis.dll from C:\windows\system\. (But you have to boot in DOS mode --
otherwise it won't let you delete them.) If I wanted to be clever I would
probably go though the system registry and remove any relevant entries --
but I'm not.
: --- Vlad is very properly grateful to his watchful
: and caring wife, which gets me 200 Golden Sh
Hmmm?
: opping Points! YAY!
Oh, "Shopping." That makes much more sense than what I thought you was
going to say...
: He does like Win2K better than Win98 anyway, but is happy to be rid of the
: troublemaking snoopware (which apparently also paralyzed his CD-ROM drive,
: because its working fine now that he's wiped out the snoopware). It's
: impossible to determine how many of his previous crash/paralysis problems
: were caused by deficiencies in Win98 and how many by the snoopware, but
: its a sure bet that the latter was a factor.
Well mine has only crashed once since I removed the snoopware! YAY! WINDOWS
IS BACK TO NORMAL!!!
BTW, I have to fix my mothers computer when I visit in a couple of weeks.
She has to do the three-fingered salute (not IYKWIM) every time she wants
to connect to the Internet! HA HA!
: THANK YOU, SIMON CLARK!! You're the best Simon ever!!!
EXCEPT FOR SIMON TEMPLAR BECAUSE HE IS THE SAINT! DO-DOODY-DO-DO-DOOOOO-
DOOOOOOOOOOO!
: Darla
: --- kissitty kiss kiss kiss
[Wipes drool away]
You're Welcome!
Daniel Buettner
> In article <sXwC4.13687$Ge1.2...@newscontent-01.sprint.ca>,
> "Darla" <darl...@sprint.ca> wrote:
> : Win98 was crashing Vlad's system so often I made him disengage (<voice of
> : Picard> "Disengage!" </voice of Picard>) me from our LAN. He was pissed
> : at Win98's instability,
> I know Windows is notoriously unstable but it was beyond a joke -- a
> guaranteed crash every time!
> : and went out and bought Win2K.
> And that's supposed to make things BETTER?
Win2K r00lz, d00d!!1! I installed it on the poxy IDE drive
in my computer at home. Last night I was listening to
"Morrison Hotel" and during "Peace Frog" the CD started
skipping. AARGGGH!! I ejected it and carefully examined
the surface of the CD. I saw no scratches or even any dust.
The CD plays just fine under Linux. I put it back in and
selected track 4. It started doing it again. I clicked the
eject button and then clicked the close box for the CD
player program. It didn't close. (workman will *always*
close when you click its close box, no matter what it is
doing). I got mad and clicked the close box as rapidly as I
could. The windows CD player crashed. YAY!! Microsoft
can't even write a CD player program that doesn't
explodidate!!
In case anyone is wondering why I installed Win2K it was for
a rilly good reason. On the off chance that anyone
remembers, I posted about some programming contest for WinCE
a while ago. I finally got around to installing the WinCE
development kit which requires NT or 2000 to run the WinCE
emulator for testing. Wow. Microsoft's development tools
for WinCE suck. Well, actually, all their tools suck, but
the magnitude of the suckage of the WinCE tools is far
greater.
--
~
~
~
"Daniel Buettner" line 4 of 4 --100%--
Daoist
Simon Clark 2000 <cla...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:8bdnjd$au4$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> shortcuts, they would have reappeared too.) The website this "turdware"
> emanated from (gohit.com) has an uninstall program -- but you have hunt
I fo rone think that the world should use, as the agreed upon title of this
kind of software "turdware"
Also, I had the snoopware (turdware) on my computer too, I dont remember
what I installed, though.
-daoist
Carlos Froggy
: I fo rone think that the world should use, as the agreed upon title of this
: kind of software "turdware"
Stop foing rone!
Helpfully, -- Froggy
* Fro...@neosoft.com ** "The Information Super-Frog" [dibs] *
http://www.angelfire.com/la/carlosmay/
Hong Ooi
wrote:
>Daoist <dao...@iastate.edu> wrote:
>
>: I fo rone think that the world should use, as the agreed upon title of this
>: kind of software "turdware"
>
>Stop foing rone!
Yeah, rone is one fuddermuckin' fo.
--
Hong Ooi | "Do you realize how damn long it takes to load
hong...@maths.anu.edu.au | background images in Lynx?"
http://www.zip.com.au/~hong | -- KF
Canberra, Australia |
Joseph Michael Bay
>On 2 Apr 2000 16:13:35 GMT, Carlos "Froggy" May <fro...@neosoft.com>
>wrote:
>>Daoist <dao...@iastate.edu> wrote:
>>
>>: I fo rone think that the world should use, as the agreed upon title of this
>>: kind of software "turdware"
>>Stop foing rone!
>Yeah, rone is one fudderm
Shut fo mouth!
--
Joseph M. Bay Boy Genius
Putting the "harm" in the "Molecular Pharmacology" since 1997
(Oo) Someone you trust is One of Us. (oO)
/{|\ What Would Cthulhu Do? /|}\
Agent Smith
worse: big brother is _not_ watching you at all!
---
http://ghettobox.dhs.org/t8/2000/update/zip/new/XXX.ZIP is
new update!
http://ghettobox.dhs.org/t8 tara...@users.tmok.com
http://users.tmok.com/~tarant8l/html/update
choose update.zip for first updating
And knowing is half the battle
>worse: big brother is _not_ watching you at all!
Well, not when Mistress Leia comes over. He used to, but then he started
turning green.
--
Remove one aol.com to email
http://www.firewriter.com/horsehockey. Adventures of a lunatic.
heart of magnesium
Joseph Michael Bay <jm...@Stanford.EDU> wrote:
>Hong Ooi <hong...@maths.anu.edu.au> writes:
>>On 2 Apr 2000 16:13:35 GMT, Carlos "Froggy" May <fro...@neosoft.com>
>>wrote:
>>>Daoist <dao...@iastate.edu> wrote:
>>>:I fo rone think that the world should use, as the agreed upon title of this
>>>:kind of software "turdware"
>>>Stop foing rone!
>>Yeah, rone is one fudderm
>Shut fo mouth!
I can dig ti.
rone
--
"Boss, was he singing what I thought he was singing?"
"A young man tells his beloved of his love for her."
"'My little hairy testicle--'"
"It's a cultural thing, Loiosh. You wouldn't understand." - Steven Brust