Did you guys see this from cnet? - ... talk about sneaky!

[Ahlexus]

CNET | DOWNLOAD DISPATCH (PC Edition)
April 16, 2002
Vol. 7, No. 16

Dirty downloads

There's been a lot of hysteria around bundled adware lurking in
the software we download. Here's something even more insidious.
I was surfing the Web for songs about Coatimundi (don't ask)
when I mistyped a URL into my browser. Instead of a "server not
found" message, it actually found a site corresponding to the
bad address I had typed. That site expanded to cover my screen,
and then the onslaught of pop-ups began. As fast as they would
appear, I would shut them down, but they kept coming.

I was ready to give up and dive under my desk when the last
pop-up disappeared. My sigh of relief was interrupted by a
Windows dialog box asking me if I was ready to accept software
from Gator. This wasn't simply a faked-up browser window but a
bona fide Windows dialog, though I hadn't clicked any download
links. This latest adware trick initiates a download for you
from a pop-up, and in a frenzy of shutting down pop-ups you
might accidentally click the OK button. What do you think of
self-downloading adware? Let me know by sending an email to
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:[email protected]">mailto:[email protected]</a><!-- e -->.

Thanks again for your many responses to last week's question
about deleting .NET Passport accounts. You'll find a sampling
of responses at the end of this dispatch. You can also read
more about that sneaky "pop-up" software here:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://clickthru.online.com/Click?q=bd-c0nUQ7pw91obJw2pAjwynQ59OkPR">http://clickthru.online.com/Click?q=bd- ... wynQ59OkPR</a><!-- m -->

Wayne Cunningham
Features Editor, CNET Download.com
~~~~~~~~~~

Arrrgh! How aggravating!

[Arthur Dent]

Yes, I have seen this.

Actually, it was on AICN for a while. When I saw it, I e-mailed their webmaster about it. He informed me that they get their ads through a third party which are rotated regularly, so they don't check every single one.

What happened was a dialog popped up asking if I wanted to donwload software. The same one you get anytime you download a program from somewhere. I said no, of course.

I've also run into more than one site that just takes over your computer by launching dozens of pop-ups. And every time you close one pop-up two more open. I deal with that by hitting the lock one Zonealarm and temporarily cutting off web access. Then I close all the windows. The new ones that open show "url not found" errors and don't open new pop ups when you close them. Then I hit unlock and go back to surfing.

[Keyser Soze]

ITS A MADHOUSE!!!! A MADHOUSE!!!!!

Whats that quick keyboard shortcut to close browser windows again? Thats a pretty quick way to kill all those pop ups.

[HedCold]

I was surfing the Web for songs about Coatimundi (don't ask)
when I mistyped a URL into my browser. Instead of a "server not
found" message, it actually found a site corresponding to the
bad address I had typed.

granted the pop ups suck, but does anyone else think this is a really dumb excuse to explain how she got to this 'bad site'?

[fbd]

Whats that quick keyboard shortcut to close browser windows again? Thats a pretty quick way to kill all those pop ups.

alt+f4