Beware of Ad-Eliminator

[Tami]

Beware of Ad-Eliminator
Sandy McMurray

I do not normally warn people away from software I have not used, but I'm going to make an exception this week. Stay away from Ad-Eliminator.

The makers of this software use spam (junk mail) to promote their product and they prey on the ignorance of non-technical people to sell it. They also flat-out lie to trick you into buying their product.

The promotional e-mail and the company Web site both claim to have scanned your computer and detected dangerous spyware on your system. In fact, no scan has taken place.

[img]http://www.killanet.net/uploads/ad-eliminator.gif[/img]

When you open the e-mail promoting Ad-Eliminator, the image above appears on your screen. It appears to scan your system for unwanted software, then displays a Warning! box that says 65 Spyware Found!

Although you may indeed have spyware on your system, this e-mail message does not scan your system for threats, nor does it really detect anything. It just displays this little animated image (which looks like a Windows XP dialog box. Everyone who gets this message is told that they have 65 spyware programs installed.

You will find a similar claim on the company site, Ad-Eliminator.com.

WARNING: Your Computer is Infected!
Ad-Eliminator Spyware Scanner had [sic] detected several dangerous Ad & Spyware planted on your PC that are harmful and dangerous.

This is a lie.

Ad-Eliminator is the most widely used and trusted spyware protection program in the world. Installed on over 24 million PC's and trusted by some of the world’s largest companies, you can be certain you are getting the best privacy protection available.

This is a lie.

The most widely used and trusted spyware protection programs (as of September 2004) are Ad Aware, Spybot Search & Destroy, and Spy Sweeper.

Ad-Eliminator appears to be an attempt to make quick money using spam messages and a fake Web site. At best, they are selling bad software that does not work as well as the competition.

Do not give these people your money. Do not run their trial software.

Stay away from Ad-Eliminator!

If you are concerned about Spyware, follow this link:
[url=\"http://www.techstuff.ca/archives/501.html\"]http://www.techstuff.ca/archives/501.html[/url]

For more information about the people behind Ad-Eliminator, follow these links:
[url=\"http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=4907\"]http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=4907[/url]
[url=\"http://www.netrn.net/archives2/000625.html\"]http://www.netrn.net/archives2/000625.html[/url]

[url=\"http://www.techstuff.ca/archives/871.html\"]source[/url]