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March
2002 -
Volume 1, Issue 2
Tracking
Spyware
On one side
are the Internet companies that have developed various ways to track
your Web activities; opposing these technologies are an emerging
cadre of ad-blockers and antitracking technologies designed to defeat
the trackers.
Among the more
controversial group of technologies are programs installed on your
computer, sometimes without your knowledge, which report back to
third parties. Many of these trackers are bundled with freeware
or shareware programs that millions of unsuspecting Web users download.
Some programs
warn you that they install third-party software on your computer
along with the download, but others don't. If you accept the license
agreement, usually one of the first screens of the program, without
reading the fine print, you may not know the program installs additional
software. Even if you do read the entire agreement, it's not always
clear what the additional programs do.
Some trackers,
such as Cydoor, are independent EXE (executable) programs. According
to Cydoor's online documentation, " . . . our component, CD_Load.exe
runs in the background. It waits until it identifies that a connection
to the Internet has been made and then contacts our server."
A program, such as Cydoor, tracks your online activity even if you're
not using the freeware program that installed it.
You can protect
your system from third-party trackers. First, visit a couple of
the Web sites that compile lists of software that load spyware on
your system. SpyChecker (http://www.spychecker.com/), for instance,
lists shareware and freeware that include tracker software in the
download. Search the database of nearly 1,000 titles before downloading
an application to be sure you're not getting more than you wanted.
The Spyware Infested Software List (http://www.infoforce.qc.ca/spyware/enknownlistfrm.html)
simply states the software and the suspected spyware it loads on
your system.
One of the antitrackers
available is Ad-aware. After the program installs, the first screen
asks you to check what areas of your computer you want to scan for
trackers. Check the Scan Memory, Quick Scan Of Registry, and the
Scan Fixed Drive boxes and click the Scan Now button.
Depending on
the speed of your computer and the size of the hard drive or drives,
this operation may take several minutes. The program compares the
files it finds on your computer to known tracker programs. You can
download the latest profile file from Lavasoft's Web site.
When the program
finishes the scan, click the Continue button at the bottom of the
screen to see a listing of the tracker programs on your computer.
Before removing programs, look over the list and put check marks
by the items you want to keep on your system. Click the Exclude
button, and Ad-aware removes those programs from the list. Now,
click the checkboxes for items you'd like to save in a backup file
and click the Backup button. Look over the remaining items and put
checks in the boxes for anything you want Ad-aware to remove. Click
Continue and Ad-aware deletes all the selected items.
The best strategy
is to check everything and click the Backup button to create a backup
file containing everything that Ad-aware will remove. The tracker
files and Registry keys are then copied to a backup file but not
deleted. If you right-click inside the list, you can use the Check
All function from the pop-up menu. You can restore the files you've
backed up if a freeware or shareware program stops working.
Try a program
that spoofs trackers into sending collected information to an IP
(Internet Protocol) address on your computer so the data never leaves
your PC. Spoof applications don't delete or modify trackers; they
render trackers ineffective. Because you're not changing anything,
you're probably not violating the license agreement of the freeware
program, although the tracker companies may not see it that way.
SpyBlocker is
a popular spoof program; it installs quickly and works as soon as
the installation is complete. SpyBlocker adds a list of known trackers
to your PC's host file (a file that your browser uses to match up
domain names with IP addresses). The computer looks in the host
file to find an address before going to the Web address system.
When a tracker program looks for the address of the server to which
it reports, it instead finds an address for your PC from the host
file so the data cannot be sent.
SpyBlocker stops communication between third-party Internet servers
and most of the known trackers, and it traps Web Bugs. Web Bugs
are invisible 1 pixel x 1 pixel graphics placed on Web pages to
track your Web activity. Most banner ads have tracking built in,
but at least you can see the banner. SpyBlocker also blocks some
pop-up ads and banners. The blocking may prevent some Web pages
from loading. Check the Don't Monitor Web Browsing box to prevent
SpyBlocker from monitoring your browser. When you check this box,
though, SpyBlocker will not block ads or Web Bugs.
SpyBlocker's
Help file doesn't offer much information; it took a while to figure
out some of the optional features. To get to the set up menus, right-click
the SpyBlocker icon in the Window's System Tray, which shows a series
of pop-up menus. For instance, to see where the blocked ad is on
the Web page, click Options on the first menu, then Replacement
graphic, and finally choose a color. SpyBlocker substitutes a small
graphic in the place of the ads it blocks. This speeds up the load
time of many pages containing large ads.
Ad-aware, ZoneAlarm,
and SpyBlocker help secure your PC (for more programs, see the sidebar,
"Additional Freeware Or Shareware"). Each uses a different
protection strategy. Ad-aware finds and destroys, but may prevent
freeware from working. ZoneAlarm blocks access to the Internet,
and SpyBlocker misdirects the collected data. Each is effective;
used together they offer better protection than any single one can.
Spyware isn't going away because personal Web activity is worth
big bucks, but these tools help you control how much and to whom
your information is made available.
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