Gator/Media charger

[Guest 7Zach]

I installed adaware, and so keep finding where i have had mediacharger downloaded, and the pop-ups keep on coming. How does one keep from getting the program downloaded. My windows is set up to ask me before executing any file, and yet i keep finding new ones? tks.

[+ deej]

I have no idea what you're asking, or what you're asking it about.

 

If you keep having software installed, SOMETHING SOMEWHERE is allowing it. Your best bet is to stop going to the sites that are installing it.

 

Can you elaborate a bit so someone can have a ghost of a chance of knowing what you're talking about? :-)

[Guest 7Zach]

Gator is a program, as well as others, that is the subject of lawsuits by the nytimes, latimes, and others. For example, u go to the nytimes site, and there's a dodge ad; gator sees it and instead gives u a pop-up of a ford ad. It leaves cookies in the computer that in turn send back info re: advertising. But the difference, as I understand it, is that u can go to sites, and the information is downloaded to ur computer. So i got adaware, and have been erasing the stuff maybe 3 times a week. Hence, get the message "mediacharger" or something else that was found.

I've gotten the stuff off mnc.com, as well as others; never sure where get it. So what I'm trying to do is not cure the problem by getting software to prevent popups, (which is a different issue), but to keep the gator/gator like stuff from getting in in the first place. I don't down load it, but u get a popup, and it won't go away cuz it's storing. That's the way I understand it, and I read the lawsuit.

So hopefully you now have a wisp of an idea?

[+ deej]

I still have no real idea what you're talking about but I suspect you're mixing metaphors and technologies.

 

Cookies are pretty simple. They're places where a website can store your preferences on your own machine. No website can read any other website's cookies.

 

What you're describing is spyware, which is very nearly a virus.

 

What does your anti-virus software vendor have to say about it? You'd probably get better luck there.

[ad rian]

Try installing http://www.panicware.com. It blocks pop ups except those that slide as ooposed to pop up on the screen.

[Huey]

I believe I might understand the problem you're having. I think at one point you accidentally gave "Gator" permission to download, therefore, it continues to do so. Usually when you hit a site that contains Gator you are assaulted with any intentionally confusing messages. Many people by accident give Gator permission to be installed on their computers.

 

Also, many applications (ie music download freeware) now bundle Gator. So you might have downloaded a program that had Gator "hidden" within it.

 

 

You can go to Add/Remove programs and see if you can find it there. Though it tends to hide within the Windows directory and not knowing the path makes it very hard to locate.

 

About the only thing you can do is reinstall Windows.

 

I believe it was deej who commented that a web site cannot read a cookie of another web site. Actually that is not correct. There is a setting in Netscape and IE that blocks third party sites reading cookies that were not originated from their site.

 

To learn more about cookies and there is a lot for us to learn i would suggest http://cookiecentral.com as a place to start.

 

-----------

WAR IS OVER

if you want it

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

[Guest bottomboykk]

>I believe it was deej who commented that a web site cannot

>read a cookie of another web site. Actually that is not

>correct. There is a setting in Netscape and IE that blocks

>third party sites reading cookies that were not originated

>from their site.

 

Actually, deej was correct. No other web site can read another site's cookies. The setting to which you refer prevents 3rd parties (e.g. DoubleClick and other banner ad/tracking companies) from writing a cookie to your hard drive; with this setting turned on (which is a very good idea) only the actual site you're visiting is allowed to place a cookie on your hard drive.

 

Cookies have gotten a bad rap in some circles. There is no harm in allowing cookies on your computer and should not be turned off except for the above-mentioned 3rd party cookies.

[+ deej]

>Cookies have gotten a bad rap in some circles.

 

Most circles, actually. :-(

 

When I'm working with a new client doing website development, I almost always spend more time explaining cookies and disabusing them of incorrect assumptions than I do writing the code that deals with the cookies in the first place. :+

[Huey]

deej I have no doubt that you understand how to create a cookie. I do have to stand by what I wrote regarding the ability to create and use of cookies that allow 3rd party web sites to track your activity.

 

Without going into a lot of detail I would simply suggest people who want to learn more about cookies read the information at http://www.cookiecentral.com and form their own opinion

-----------

WAR IS OVER

if you want it

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

[ad rian]

>Cookies have gotten a bad rap in some circles. There is no

>harm in allowing cookies on your computer and should not be

>turned off except for the above-mentioned 3rd party cookies.

 

No harm? If first party cookies did not reveal interesting or commercially-sensitive personal data, they would not be used. They may be a necessary evil to get what appears to be free access to information on line, and I would not yet advocate pay as you go sites, but I think this is hardly harmless. Does nobody care about privacy any more?

[Guest bottomboykk]

>No harm? If first party cookies did not reveal interesting

>or commercially-sensitive personal data, they would not be

>used. They may be a necessary evil to get what appears to

>be free access to information on line, and I would not yet

>advocate pay as you go sites, but I think this is hardly

>harmless. Does nobody care about privacy any more?

 

I know of no site that places first-party cookies on your computer that contain sensitive information that's of any use to anyone else. Have you ever looked at the cookies on your hard disk (they're simple text files)? They contain some information like your name and usually some garbage numbers that only mean something to the database on the site's server. No one else can access this data.

 

I repeat: FIRST-PARTY COOKIES ARE HARMLESS. No one's privacy has EVER been compromised by a cookie. If you're worried about third-party cookies, turn them off.

[Guest bottomboykk]

>I do have to stand by what I wrote regarding the

>ability to create and use of cookies that allow 3rd party

>web sites to track your activity.

>

>Without going into a lot of detail I would simply suggest

>people who want to learn more about cookies read the

>information at http://www.cookiecentral.com and form their

>own opinion

 

If you're worried about third-party cookies, which is reasonable, simply turn them off. It's that simple. As to first-party cookies, no one else can read them!!! Cookies make e-commerce and countless other things possible on the web.

[+ deej]

>No harm? If first party cookies did not reveal interesting

>or commercially-sensitive personal data, they would not be

>used.

 

You're dead wrong. Cookies are mostly used to store your preferences.

 

Perhaps you consider the fact that you like TV listings on your default display to be sensitive data, but that's pretty much all that's there, and only the site that created it can read it.

 

Wasn't it you who suggested cookiecentral.com? Perhaps you should spend some time over there re-reading how cookies work. You are absolutely wrong.

[ad rian]

>I know of no site that places first-party cookies on your

>computer that contain sensitive information that's of any

>use to anyone else. Have you ever looked at the cookies on

>your hard disk (they're simple text files)? They contain

>some information like your name and usually some garbage

>numbers that only mean something to the database on the

>site's server. No one else can access this data.

 

I think you miss the point about first-party cookies. Agreeing to placing them on your system gives the first-party a means to record a great deal of information about you and your viewing habits. It is precisely that that makes it comercially valuable as an alternative to pay as you go sites.

 

>I repeat: FIRST-PARTY COOKIES ARE HARMLESS. No one's privacy

>has EVER been compromised by a cookie. If you're worried

>about third-party cookies, turn them off.

 

At any rate, I think you need to read more about the international protocols that govern in this area. I agree that third-party cookies are a more serious threat to privacy because in that case there is no consent to share personal data beyond the first-party. Saying that though does not mean that first-party cookies raise no privacy issues. It just means that you have waived the right to complain by accepting the cookie.

[Guest bottomboykk]

I'm not going to argue with you. You've shown that you're completely ignorant on the subject. There's been so much wrong information spread by the press and other ignorant groups that people believe it; they're TOTALLY wrong. See deej's post below. You're not giving up ANY privacy by accepting first-party cookies.

[Huey]

>>No harm? If first party cookies did not reveal interesting

>>or commercially-sensitive personal data, they would not be

>>used.

>

>You're dead wrong. Cookies are mostly used to store your

>preferences.

>

>Perhaps you consider the fact that you like TV listings on

>your default display to be sensitive data, but that's pretty

>much all that's there, and only the site that created it can

>read it.

>

>Wasn't it you who suggested cookiecentral.com? Perhaps you

>should spend some time over there re-reading how cookies

>work. You are absolutely wrong.

 

Deej it was me who believes strongly in http://cookiecentral.com though it is not me you are replying to. I left this thread several days ago. I will let my previous remarks stand and allow you to have the last word.

 

-----------

WAR IS OVER

if you want it

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

[ad rian]

>You're dead wrong. Cookies are mostly used to store your

>preferences.

>

>Perhaps you consider the fact that you like TV listings on

>your default display to be sensitive data, but that's pretty

>much all that's there, and only the site that created it can

>read it.

 

>You're dead wrong. Cookies are mostly used to store your

>preferences.

 

Deej, I don't know why you bring out the worst in me. I really hate arguing with self-assured amateur lawyers. I do this for a living, my friend. I hate to break it to you but you need to read Microsoft's privacy policy and the international protocols that underpin it. I am sorry but the people who developed the cookies for commercial reasons say you are dead wrong. I repeat the only reason why there is a consensus that third-party cookies are more problematic than first-party cookies has to do with the legal notion of contractual consent and voluntary asumption of risk. It has nothing to do with the content of the information. Why do you always express such certainty about things you know nothing about. It is very curious.

[Guest 7Zach]

I think ur right above; I havd gone to some site, received a prompt, asking if I wanted to install something or other. Said no, and yet data kept coming. Tried to close it out, and wouldn't. The only way out of it was to accept or reboot, and I had stuff going on in Word that I hadn't saved, so took it as opposed to rebooting. Gator is not showing up in Add/Remove progams, but I think whatever came in is there cuz the number of pop-ups is a hell of a lot more than I had been getting. And I understand what people said to install the program to prevent them, but I was trying to figure out the program first, rather than just its effects. Tks for all the responses.

[ad rian]

>Deej it was me who believes strongly in

>http://cookiecentral.com though it is not me you are

>replying to. I left this thread several days ago. I will let

>my previous remarks stand and allow you to have the last

>word.

 

Thanks for that site. It is very good. It might help Dej and othe doubters to read the following conclusion from that site:

 

"So If cookies are so much of a nuisance why was they developed in the first place?

 

The first batch of cookies were originally cooked up as simple mechanism to help make it easier for users to access their favorite Web sites without having to go through a lengthy process of identifying themselves every time they visit. For instance, upon your first visit to a given site, you may be asked to reveal your name and perhaps even some personal or financial information required to gain access to that site in the future. The site will then place a cookie containing this information on your system and when you return it will request information based on the cookie to determine who you are and whether you have authorization to access the site.

 

Unfortunately, the original intent of the cookie has been subverted by some unscrupulous entities who have found a way to use this process to actually track your movements across the Web. They do this by surreptitiously planting their cookies and then retrieving them in such a way that allows them to build detailed profiles of your interests, spending habits, and lifestyle. On the surface, this practice may seem harmless and hardly worth fretting over since the worst thing most imagine is that corporate concerns will use this information to devise annoying, yet relatively innocuous advertising campaigns, targeted towards specific groups or individuals. However, it is rather scary to contemplate how such an intimate knowledge of our personal preferences and private activities might eventually be used to brand each of us as members of a particular group.

 

But remember a site only knows what information you have entered. Not all cookies are bad, they can also provide useful functions on the web."

[+ deej]

>But remember a site only knows what information you have

>entered. Not all cookies are bad, they can also provide

>useful functions on the web."

 

Thank you for proving my point. :*

[Guest bluboy]

Gator pop up will have multiple names on your ad/remove program look and uninstall: "offercompanion" and/or "gain" as these also will give pop ups but are named such that it is not called gator and so you do not know to uninstall. blu

[ad rian]

>Thank you for proving my point. :*

 

Did you read the second paragraph? That completely contradicts your point in 12. As for whether the information provided by a first-party cookie, or an IP address for that matter, is limited to information that the user provided that is correct. However, it is the compilation, use or sale of that information for tracking purposes that raises the additional privacy concerns raised in the second paragraph and leads folks like to me to purge cookies on a constant basis. If someone else is not concerned about first-party cookies or the privacy issues raised by there use, fine, but saying that they don't raise privacy issues is the height of foolishness.

[+ deej]

I'm sure glad I'm not as paranoid as you are. I'd be afraid to leave the house every day.

 

As with just about every other topic you approach around here, your intent is to throw out the baby with the bath water. You focus on the negative, without conceding that a) it ain't that bad to begin with and b) there actually is a side that isn't bad.

 

You're making another mountain out of a molehill here.

 

Several people on this thread have pointed out to you that you can block "dangerous" cookies, but you relentlessly defend your stance that they are inherently evil and refute a passage THAT YOU QUOTED stating that not all cookies are evil and that they do have legitimate uses. (And yes, I've read that site many times. It hasn't changed much since it was first posted 3 or 4 years ago.)

 

I'm finished with this discussion because facts never seem to dissuade you from spreading groundless FUD.

[ad rian]

>Several people on this thread have pointed out to you that

>you can block "dangerous" cookies, but you relentlessly

>defend your stance that they are inherently evil and refute

>a passage THAT YOU QUOTED stating that not all cookies are

>evil and that they do have legitimate uses. (And yes, I've

>read that site many times. It hasn't changed much since it

>was first posted 3 or 4 years ago.)

 

I block all third-party cookies. I also repeatedly purge first-party cookies. Your point is that first-party cookies raise no privacy concerns. I disagree. I noted several times that first-party cookies are the price we pay for illusion of "free" access to content on the Internet. I obviously agree to use first-party cookies in sime instances like here, but I make a knowing choice in doing so. Deej, the quoted passage simply did not say that first-party cookies raise no privacy issues, it said the opposite. Do you have reading comprehension problems?

[bigjake8]

There is a couple of things that you can do here.

 

First off, if you are running windows XP, create a restore point before you do anything. That way you can go back if you erase or do somehting that you shouldnt.

 

1. After restarting, before you open anything, Hit CNTRL-ALT-DELETE (at the same time, this is assuming you are running windows explorer) Goto the running programs list and look to find what name GATOR is using. Go to Add/Remove programs. Use this as a opportunity to clean your hard drive. Remove EVERYTHING that is a program that you do not need or recognize. Make sure thats its only programs that you feel safe removing.

 

2. If that doesnt stop it, go into your START menu, select "Run" Type in "msconfig" (no quotes) and take a look at your startup items. Uncheck everything that you dont need or doesnt belong there and lose. Restart, hopefully it will be gone.

 

 

To keep this from happening in the future, the next time you get a popup window asking if you would like to install ANYTHING, be very careful. I get hit by GATOR and COMET CURSOR all the time. Your fiirst inclination is to hit yes. DONT DO IT. Go into your internet options folder in expolorer and make sure that your "trusted sites" folder is empty.