Who else hates Comet Cursor?

[Sacotool]

Whenever I'm visiting unfamiliar sites, I invariably end up with Comet Cursor installed, along with an atrocious blue cursor! Arghhhhh!!!! So I uninstall it, then some other site loads it. It never ends.....

 

[Valhalla1]

I hate that sh!t..

 

[snut]

yes i hate it too

 

[Imported]

Hate it also. Isn't it spyware also? :Q

 

[Taz4158]

It certainly is spyware.

 

[paruhd0x]

Death to comet cursor.

 

[Sacotool]

So Comet Cursor is sending information back to it's source about you? I wasn't aware of that. I always just found it to be a nuisance because I have to keep uninstalling it.

 

[Taz4158]

It ceratinly is. Download Adaware.

 

[Daniel]

Ugh, the executive director where I work always ends up with that on his laptop every time I got to work on it.

 

[Sacotool]

I downloaded and ran Adaware. It scanned my system and came up with 20 spyware references! Thanks for the tip Taz4158!

 

[SSP]

Run OptOut from Ssteve Gibson. It found ~100 spyware files that adaware didn't catch.

EDit... or was is adfill??

 

[toph99]

nm, i just downloaded OptOut. i don't know a whole lot about windows, so is it safe to delete these files?



OptOut Deep Drive Scan on: 12 / 25 / 2000 at 19:03
? Scanning Drive C: for known problem files
? Found Aureate file: advert.dll. Last accessed:
10 / 22 / 2000 - about 64 days ago!
? File path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\advert.dll
? Found Aureate file: 1.ctl. Last accessed:
10 / 22 / 2000 - about 64 days ago!
? File path: c:\windows\amc\1\1.ctl
? Found Aureate file: 1.log. Last accessed:
08 / 17 / 2000 - about 130 days ago!
? File path: c:\windows\amc\1\1.log
? Found Aureate file: 10662.chk. Last accessed:
08 / 07 / 2000 - about 140 days ago!
? File path: c:\windows\amc\1\10662.chk
? Found Aureate file: index.chc. Last accessed:
12 / 02 / 2000 - about 23 days ago!
? File path: c:\windows\amcdl\cache\index.chc
5 known problem files were found on Drive C: !
OptOut Deep Scan Finished: 12 / 25 / 2000 at 19:03

 

[IamDavid]

Isn't there some way of stopping this anoying program from being installed? Why doesn't it ask before installing???

 

[SSP]

Toph, I had all those files, and I deleted them. No harm done.

David, It should ask, unless you enable the check mark saying "trust all contents from Cometcursor" radio box (well, it should look something like that). Sometimes other programs install it (I keep a copy of Optout and scan it every 2 week or so).

 

[toph99]

well here's hoping i didn't just delete something vital

 

[AlphaIVT]

what is comet cursor?

 

[Imported]

Wow, first time I ran OptOut, found no spyware references in 15GB.

 

[PCAddict]

Somehow it ended up getting installed on 1/2 of the IT systems at work. I spent quite a bit of time uninstalling it from where I could find it.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Comet Cursor uses the Aureate spyware. The DLL file advert.dll loads and tracks everything you do in your web browser. They claim that they don't collect anything personally identifiable and all that, and they do put information about it in the terms and conditions that you accept when you install stuff, but it's hidden away and they know nobody reads that, and there's no ethical reason to be installing another program BEHIND the program you've downloaded.

The only problem with deleting the advert.dll file is if a program that you use regularly uses the Aureate spyware. The program won't run if that file is deleted. So you either don't use that program anymore, or you allow the spyware to be installed.

You should be able to set your security settings in IE to ask before installing programs like that. I always get the prompt asking if it's okay to install.

 

[Taz4158]

<< I downloaded and ran Adaware. It scanned my system and came up with 20 spyware references! Thanks for the tip Taz4158! >>


My pleasure. I find it's more in depth than Optout. Glad it helped.

 

[nullshark]

Hmm... Comet Cursor has always asked me before installing.

I think it might be because I have my Install on Demand disabled in tools/internet options/advanced tab

Also check your security settings in the Security tab there (click on custom) Run ActiveX Controls &amp; Plugins -> set to Prompt &amp; Allow paste Option via Script -> Prompt