Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Claria Spyware

Upon installing the program, the installation wizard states that Claria will show advertisements based on the sites a user visits on the internet. The wizard does not state that it will monitor every site a user visits and report that data back to the vendor's database as long as the software is functioning. However, this information is clarified in a detailed End User License Agreement , which is read by very few users. The End User License Agreement gives Claria the right to track and report back information regarding all of the programs on your computer, along with the first four digits of your credit card number, allowing them to know what institution you bank at.

Another huge concern of the public was the fact that the users were prohibited to remove Claria software with anti-virus or anti-spyware software. According to the End User License Agreement, the only way a user was permitted to remove the program was by using the "Add/Remove Programs" utility in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Additionally, the End User License Agreement does not fully disclose as to what data the Claria Corporation actually collects. Many users were outraged that the program captured sensitive data that could be potentially used to commit internet crimes. Scott Eadgle, the company's Chief Marketing Officer, claims that the only information Claria collects now is behavior of "commercial intent" - referring to product research and shopping online. Eagle went on to claim that the data is filed by an anonymous computer identification number and does not collect email addresses, usernames, zipcodes or complete credit card numbers.

Removal of Claria spyware
Like several types of spyware and adware, the Claria software doesn't completely uninstall after using the "Add/Remove programs" utility. It leaves behind various files and programs such as GAIN, that lead back to the company's server, along with several fragments that can only be cleaned up by a registry cleaning application. Scoott Eadgle states that GAIN is a separate add-delivery program that only collects non-personal user data and automatically uninstalls itself after all traces 0f Claria are completely removed.

See also
remote virus scan
antivirus spyware removal
malicious spyware removal
how to remove cipav spyware
optimize your web browser

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