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Spider
10-03-2009, 01:29 PM
Does anyone know anything about --

get-rated.com,
searchguardplus.com
fastbrowsersearch.com
make-the-web-better.com

I clicked on a link for get-rated.com, I think from Facebook. I answered 'Yes' to "Do you want to run this program?" expecting a small app to be loaded to Temp files - as has often happened with other such programs in the past (I think.)

Anyway, it loaded 3 program folders (at least) to my Programs folder, and changed by default browser and changed my homepage. PLUS, added their own toolbar!

Now, apart from the annoying changes, the stuff loaded does appear that it could be worth keeping. Or should I just delete/uninstall it all?

Any suggestions?

billbenson
10-03-2009, 02:15 PM
I couldn't find much in a search on get rated, but it sounds like you just installed spyware.

I'd uninstall it and see if its really gone. Look at your running processes to see what processes are running that it installed.

Run spybot and other spyware programs with the latest updates to see if they find anything. There was a good one called C Cleaner or something like that , that works pretty well. Erases history and saved passwords though.

This is the kind of thing that requires computer rebuilds at times. You need to be careful on what you click!

Harold Mansfield
10-03-2009, 02:34 PM
Does anyone know anything about --

get-rated.com,
searchguardplus.com
fastbrowsersearch.com
make-the-web-better.com


They definitely sound like Spyware. Anything that changes your settings and installs a toolbar cannot be all good. Even the Yahoo tool bar, as annoying as it is since it seems to be a part of everything you download today, is not that intrusive and you can get rid of it.

I would get rid of all of it ASAP!

cbscreative
10-03-2009, 03:12 PM
I've seen some pretty nasty stuff come off Facebook, I'd get rid of it and run a Restore to a date before the install just to be safe. One of my daughters got fooled by a nasty app from Facebook that pretended to be a virus alert. Instead of cleaning the computer, it actually installed something and I had to do some major cleanup. Needless to say my opinion of Facebook is not good. They should do a better job with security for their users. But since it's a free service, it tends to be a breeding ground for this type of slime to see what they can get away with.

My advice, extreme caution with any free site. Sometimes Yes is the right answer, most times you should say No to everything. They love to try and trick you and they get very cunning in their ways of doing it. The one my daughter got tricked by was very cunning because the choice of action was the opposite of what you would think.

Harold Mansfield
10-03-2009, 04:31 PM
I couldn't find much in a search on get rated, but it sounds like you just installed spyware.

I'd uninstall it and see if its really gone. Look at your running processes to see what processes are running that it installed.

Run spybot and other spyware programs with the latest updates to see if they find anything. There was a good one called C Cleaner or something like that , that works pretty well. Erases history and saved passwords though.

This is the kind of thing that requires computer rebuilds at times. You need to be careful on what you click!
CCleaner - Home (http://www.ccleaner.com/)
I use it all the time..not bad for a free utility. Cleaner and registry repair.

Spider
10-03-2009, 06:29 PM
It's removed. Just wondered if anyone had heard of it and could confirm it as being okay.

I set the machine to a previous restore point, Ad-Awared it and defragged.

All is working fine -- not that anything wasn't working, as I could tell, but I have a nice clean, freshly-showered feeling now!

Thanks for your comments and advice.

Harold Mansfield
10-03-2009, 06:43 PM
It's removed. Just wondered if anyone had heard of it and could confirm it as being okay.

I set the machine to a previous restore point, Ad-Awared it and defragged.

All is working fine -- not that anything wasn't working, as I could tell, but I have a nice clean, freshly-showered feeling now!

Thanks for your comments and advice.

I've never heard of them. What are they supposed to do ?
I normally stay away from just about anything that is not a recognized utility. Anything that professes to enhance surfing or your web browsing experience outside of the known browsers and their tools is usually some kind of tracking, adware, spyware thing that will flood you with pop ups and probably slow down your computer.

Zango used to be good for that...hide a bunch of garbage in supposed utilities, games and entertainment apps.

Spider
10-03-2009, 07:31 PM
Not quite sure what it was supposed to do. The wording I clicked (an ad, I suppose) sounded interesting and I went there to find out what it does.

Harold Mansfield
10-03-2009, 08:35 PM
Not quite sure what it was supposed to do. The wording I clicked (an ad, I suppose) sounded interesting and I went there to find out what it does.

I need to learn how to make ads like that:D

Spider
10-03-2009, 08:51 PM
I need to learn how to make ads like that:DI hazard to suggest the trick is to not try to sell anything in the ad but just to make it sound interesting. Obviously, you need to make it sound interesting to the sort of person who would buy what you are selling - your target market, that is.

I really believe a new era has dawned on marketing, sparked by the social media craze. We must no longer try to sell our product in the ad, expecting people to come and buy. Once they have decided to buy, they will have already decided *where* they are going to buy - and that will be (hopefully) where they got the most help when gathering information. To advertise to people who have already decided to buy is already too late!

Thus, the *new* advertising must be to entice the likely prospect to come and seek information from us. By giving them the information they want, they will decide from that whether to buy, and if they decide to buy they will return to the person who was most helpful in the information-gathering stage.

That's how my theory goes, anyway. We will have to wait and see if it works out like that!

billbenson
10-03-2009, 09:15 PM
Make sure you really got rid of it. Don't want to broadcast your email addresses or passwords.

Oh, if it was spyware, one of the things they do is harvest your email addresses from outlook and other programs. If that is the case, those email addresses have been sent spam from you. that happened the instant the software was downloaded. When I say it's from you, the spam sender will send emails to your address book list from you. You never sent them, but the recipient doesn't know that.

This doesn't just affect you, it affects everybody on your computer, not to mention passwords etc if you pay bills online.

Spider
10-03-2009, 11:20 PM
Thanks for your concern. I'm pretty sure it was a legitimate application. I am on several of my e-mail lists and I have received no e-mail spam.

orion_joel
10-04-2009, 02:45 AM
The issue with ads these days is that many are not trying to sell you anything but just trying to get you to click and agree to install things that the people get paid for enabling.

This maybe does not sound lucrative, but for the not so nice vendors of virus software for example, they will pay people to get them to install spyware that changes things including ads to buy their product. it is sneaky and underhanded but it happens.

This is what makes advertising so much more difficult online, the people that have been biten by it are wary to click on anything.

KristineS
10-05-2009, 01:05 PM
I

Thus, the *new* advertising must be to entice the likely prospect to come and seek information from us. By giving them the information they want, they will decide from that whether to buy, and if they decide to buy they will return to the person who was most helpful in the information-gathering stage.

That's how my theory goes, anyway. We will have to wait and see if it works out like that!

I think it will work out like that. People have access to so much information now and can research companies and prices at a few clicks of a mouse. The whole world is the marketplace now, and distance is not an impediment to buying like it used to be. The companies that will thrive are the companies that learn how to cultivate customer loyalty by providing information and education that helps their customers to grow and prosper.