My PC Hell Forum

I have to say I am a bit surprised that there are adverts on the main page of this site to download smilies etc from hotbar!  Hotbar is spyware!

Daisy I know I found out

I was concerned about that too Don - can yo have a word with the head man?

The only ads that I have posted on the main site (Besides Housecall Virus Scanner and Firefox) are Google Adsense ad's.  

For those that are not familiar with Adsense, here is how they work....

Basically all you do is post an area where Google can post ads.  Each time the page loads, google rotates certain ads.  I have no control over which ads Google places on there, however it is my understanding that these ads are checked out by Google.   The ads are chosen based on a googlebot which scans the website and then uses keywords found on the site to find relevant ads.  

For More Information on Google AdSense:
http://www.google.com/services/adsense_tour/

Here are Google's Policies on Ad Sense...

https://www.google.com/adsense/policies

Ok,
I have done a bit more research on what I can do to limit certain ads from displaying.  And what I found was that I can Put a fileter on specific URL's.  

So I have put on the following Fileters (these ads are prohibited from displaying ads on my site):

hotbar.com
netscape.com
trojan-scan.com

I definately do not want to support any site that has Spyware on it.  But the only way that I can prevent the ads from showing is to add a URL to the block list....so if you should find an Ad, that is spyware. Please either PM me or post the URL, and I will block it immediately.  

For the most part though I have found that the Google AdSense Team does a pretty good job at filtering the ads...

I appreciate the heads up.

Well sorted. It's surprising that Google permitted such ads in the first place though, isn't  it?  At least you know how to deal with them now.

Yes so am I, Someone there slipped up, Jason was well pleased by his response he posted, that we were all concerned.

Good to know he care over his members and coming members.

Now you can see why I  excepted the moderators job and pushed the site.

thanks for the response.  I think hotbar is fairly harmless and that is why google will kind of support it, however, it is known spyware and not something everyone really wants on their computer..and I believe that once you got something like that on your pc, it just opens doors for the real nasties....so all in all best avoided at all costs.   :D

Hi not harmless when I put on my computer and I am fully protected, it  started messing with IE 6, my hotmail, and several other programs.

I had already told Jason about it before other members found it that is why, he has taken the action he did.

yeah I knew about hotbar years ago when I did exactly the same as you don...its just all the stuff that might leave doors open for the real nasties, as hotbar is in itself not a nasty....just spyware....like whenu and all that, it just tracks your browsing habits for advertising...

Its also very difficult to remove. :(

You are not joking about hard to remove taken me all this time up tp an hour ago to get rid of last bit.

Are you enjoying it here.  :baloon:

...yeah its a nightmare....but if you got all the decent antispy ware on your pc it will block it and get rid.....spybot S&D is esp good for hotbar.

as forums go its okay....I am a member of quite a few...I do realise this is just new and up and coming to an extent - so I think once established with good members out to help with their experience it will become better.

you're doing a good job don and here's to success. :D

Aha, that explains it all...I had posted somewhere else on the forum that my pop up blocker (pop-up-stopper from panicware) was very active when browsing this site and also everytime I click on an alert in OE. Today it has not happened so well done Jason for sorting that out!


Cheers,


Strum :D

everything is spyware these days.. watch out 8)