Tag Archives: Spyware

ZoneAlarm’s Sneaky Spyware Scare?

(See a more recent post on this for an update. ZoneAlarm no longer has this ‘feature’.) I’m a big fan, and user, of ZoneAlarm firewalls. Their interface is clean, clear and I like the system tray icon which doubles as a traffic monitor. But sometimes they do things that don’t, in my view, help educate… Read More »

Claria Goes Into Search

Claria, formerly Gator and allegedly the brief focus of Microsoft interest, has announced it is working on a new search engine technology which “goes far beyond analyzing links to pages and hypertext matching, and instead evaluates how consumers actually interact with search results when they are seeking information on the Web”. I don’t claim to… Read More »

Microsoft and Claria: It May Never Have Been On, But Now It’s Off

It’s hard to know how serious this ever was but whatever, it’s now over, according to ClickZ News, who reports the Microsoft/Claria Deal Dead: Microsoft has ended its acquisition talks with behavioral targeting firm Claria, ClickZ News has learned from a source close to the discussions. Another Microsoft source later confirmed that report. A Microsoft… Read More »

Microsoft’s Antispyware Turns Neutral on Claria?

(Sorry, a few days late with this.) Further to the reports of talks between Microsoft and adware maker Claria (formerly Gator), spyware/adware expert Ben Edelman points to a website discussion that highlights an apparent conflict of interest should Microsoft Buy Claria: What would Microsoft’s own anti-spyware software make of Claria’s adware? A Dozleng.com post reports that… Read More »

Banks To Customers: You Have To Pay For Phishing

Good article in Australia’s BRW Magazine about phishing and banks. It makes some important points, not least that banks are still trying to talk down the problem while at the same time passing costs and risk onto the customer: Banks are desperate to assure their customers that internet banking is safe. But their actions are not… Read More »