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Pastimes : Computer Learning -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Duchardt who wrote (24231)	1/3/2002 1:11:52 AM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 110654

File-sharing programs carry Trojan horse Thursday January 03 01:00 AM EST By John Borland CNET News.com news.yahoo.com A pair of popular file-sharing programs have become privacy time bombs, according to computer experts. Antivirus company Symantec last week reported the presence of "spyware" bundled with Grokster and Limewire, two popular file-swapping downloads. The code evidently does not damage computers, but it surreptitiously sends personal information such as user ID names and the Internet address of computers to another Web address. Advertising software called "Clicktilluwin" that comes bundled with the file-swapping programs carries a program called "W32.DIDer," which Symantec has classified as a Trojan horse--a piece of code that takes over parts of a person's computer unseen in order to carry out its own instructions. Although unrelated advertising programs are routinely bundled with free file-swapping programs--and have prompted some user criticism in the past--this appears to be the first time one of them has included a program classified as a Trojan horse by security experts. The Trojan horse software installs itself even if a computer user selects an option that appears to block Clicktilluwin's installation. For this reason, antivirus companies are warning people to scan their computers after installing these products to ensure the code is removed. On the heels of the Symantec warning, some consumers complained of similar problems with FastTrack's Kazaa Media Desktop. CNET News.com could not duplicate the problem in a test of that product Wednesday. A spokesman for Limewire said the version with Clicktilluwin included had been replaced with a clean version by Tuesday. "It was not what we thought this was," said Greg Bildson, Limewire's chief technical officer. "It was supposed to be a promotional tool...not blatant spyware." Grokster has gone one step further, apologizing and providing its users with a program that will remove the offending bits of code from personal computers "We have no access to the source code of these third-party installers and so we rely on what our advertisers say these programs do," the company wrote on its Web site Wednesday. "Now that we have learned of the Trojan, we are doing everything we can to minimize its impact on our users." Because software programs are among the most popular downloads on the Net, the Trojan horse could potentially find its way onto a large number of computers. Kazaa, for example, is one of the most popular pieces of software available through CNET Download.com, a site operated by News.com's parent company, with more than 1.3 million downloads in the last week of December alone. Bitter warnings about the code spread through consumer bulletin boards on several different Web sites last week. "Make sure you have a good virus utility if you must install this," one person wrote on Download.com's Grokster reviews.

To: Dan Duchardt who wrote (24231)	1/3/2002 5:01:17 PM
From: c.horn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110654

If you open windows explorer and go to C:/Windows/Temporary Internet Files the ContentIE6 won't show up in the file area. But if you double click TIF it will drop down as a subfolder. Then double click that and a bunch of files will open. They have cryptic names like: 3i41owr9, 4hivkh9f, 6v8oqt94. If you double click on them they are filled with all the gif & webpage cookies. I clear TIF several times a day. I've been deleting the ContentIE6 file completely also. It always comes back. :(