GATOR and Relatives

welsh

welsh

Junkmaster
A lot of you are wiser on these things than I, but some of my students were talking about Gator and its relatives and how Gator was very much the most evil to creep through the internet (except maybe Mohrg's sig).

What thoughts on this and why?
 
I scan my computer regularly about once a month and I always find GATOR there, despite deleting it the prior month. Besides annoying pop-ups and a desktop icon, GATOR isn't so serious but I still hate havig useless ad software cluttering my computer.

Here's a good solution for ads, mates:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

This software can scan your computer for ad-ware and you can delete them. Highly recommended because your bound to have at least one ad-ware program running on your comp.

Here's a good solution for pop-ups:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/eero.muhonen/FS/

This software is bound to kill most pop-ups, making Internet surfing relatively cleaner. You may get one or two but that's a huge improvement compared to the ten pop-ups per page.

Hope this helps.
 
Gunslinger said:
This software can scan your computer for ad-ware and you can delete them. Highly recommended because your bound to have at least one ad-ware program running on your comp.
Click to expand...

Holy hraka, that thing just found 50 entries. Heh, guess I needed that, cheers.
 
Yeah, GATOR sure is evil. My recommendation for getting rid of spyware/adware once and for all is Spyware S&D which you can download here. The program is so efficient that some evil companies tried to make their own "versions" (they did nothing but copy the code and change the program's name), like Spyware Nuker and others, and sell them for big bucks. But real Spyware S&D is freeware. Another great anti-spyware program is Ad-Aware. Spybot S&D is a lot more powerful than Ad-Aware and it always finds stuff Ad-Aware sometimes misses, but it has some minor bugs with updates, it is a little more complex (meaning it offers additional options to l33t h4xXx0rZ among you), and Ad-Aware is more sensitive to cookies, and it also detects spyware in system restore files (which can sometimes be a downside, because deleting stuff from system restore can cause damage to other files). I suggest using both, because they complement very nicely.
 
I think it was from Gunslinger's link - but a minute ago I noticed that Gunslinger's link points to Ad-Aware, just like one of mine. But, as I said, you will also need Spybot S&D to be 100% sure you are protected.

If you must know, I currently use Spybot S&D alone (because it's more l33t :P ), but I'm considering installing Ad-Aware as well. I find only about 5 to 10 problems a month, because SS&D immunizes your system when it discovers a problem for the first time. It can also prevent your homepage from being changed (evil spyware/adware sometimes does that). I think Ad-Aware can do all those things as well, so it's not a big issue which one you use - they are both free, and they both rock.
 
I haven't tried Spyware S&D (thanks for the heads-up), but, from personal experiance, Ad-Aware is pretty darn good.

As for GATOR, where the heck is Steve Irwin when you need him...

*sets off poor joke alarm*

...sorry, I couldn't help it. :(

But yeah, the thing with GATOR is that sometimes it comes bundled with other programs (normally shareware), at times without even alerting you that it's there. When they do notify you, they''ll make it out to be the best thing since sliced bread, so be careful with what programs you install.

It happened to me with an old version of Getright and I had the worst time trying to remove it...
 
Ack, GATOR, nooooo...

Well, my personal experience with this Fsxpthsing piece of Szhyx is relatively painless compared to what I'm reading here. All I did was read what the ad said (in the corner I think) and searched the computer for it. I open the little program it installed and if you look hard enough it'll send you to a website (I think) that tells you which programs on your computer gave you GATOR. Just delete them and it'll go away. Maybe you have to do one more step, but basically that's all I needed to do.

I remember that the programs it came with was some clock updater and a scheduling program. Worthless to me and I don't even know how they got on in the first place. Funny thing is that I was on a friend's computer and GATOR popped up. I told him that I could fix and... *Suprise!*... he had the exact same two programs I did!

Where's Nuclear Wolf and his spamming aliases when you need them for a common good?
 
Spybot is great and really gets rid of lots of the registry changes and other crap floating around my system. Its surprising the stuff that seems to get past Norton's firewall unless it was there before I installed it?

But I am still having problems with IE that are seriously pissing me off. I am going to have to do another Windows wipe and install soon as soon as I get important files transferred to my new system.
 
welsh said:
Ugly John- was that from the links given by GUnslinger or Ratty?
Click to expand...

gunsligner's .

me and ratty posted at the same time, i haven't noticed his post since this morning.

Welsh: what do you teach?
 
Quick answer- right now I am doing English Comp (because it pays well) but generally I do law and politics.

This issue came up during one of my english classes when one of my students was talking about these companies as using their power over internet users, and why this is an abuse that needs more regulation. I thought it was interesting.
 
welsh said:
This issue came up during one of my english classes when one of my students was talking about these companies as using their power over internet users, and why this is an abuse that needs more regulation. I thought it was interesting.
Click to expand...

As with spam emails, I think there needs to be readily available protections. Regulation on the internet seems to be a great concept in theory, but I wouldn't want it. IMHO governments should stay out of the internet regulation business and a worldwide governing body could just lead to more problems than it could solve.
 
Ok, JJ86, while generally I am with you on this, but then we got a problem.

What about incest on the net? What about making snuff films for internet broadcast. SInce some of this can be done outside the jurisdiction of a state- isn't that a problem too?

Is it fair that companies put stuff on your computer, eating up your memory, for their own marketing purposes? Shouldn't they compensate you?

I also think we need to distinguish the sophisticated user from the unsophisticated here.
 
Welsh and JJ86, you've completely forgotten about viruses, hacking, cracking, etc. These would also be waaaay out of control without regulations. Then again, GATOR pretty much is a virus...
 
Well if actual laws are being broken like child porn or hacking to destroy or steal data then they should be prosecuted....if they fall within the jurisdiction of a country that has laws against it. But would you want some country knocking on your door with lawyers saying that what you are doing is illegal even though it's legal where you are? If the US passes legislation to abolish spam they still won't be able to enforce the spam jamming my inbox that is from China. And if some country says that web porn is punishable by death, I don't want to be censored for images on my site that show naked women.

Information exchange is what the internet is all about. I think that Anarchist Cookbooks, goatse, and gay sex chatrooms shouldn't become victims of regulations just because someone might not like them. Obviously there are may illegal things that should be at least minimized if they are in certain jurisdictions but I don't want some dimwitted politicians making rules for everything I want to access.
 
Hmmm.... But what if you're located in international waters? Ack... Too many possibilities!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top