11 replies to this topic

[beach_defender]

I recently installed adaware 9.6.0 and while m,ost is great, except for a particularly annoying 'feature'.
:

http://www.pagenotfo...jetabout.com.au

For example.

I want to turn this behaviour off.

How do I do that?

I find this behaviour obnoxious.

Barry
How do

[CeciliaB]

Hi Barry,

If you don't like what the toolbar do, it is possible to uninstall or inactivate it.

Since you have bought the product you can use the Lavasoft support  instead of this forum with volunteers. See this post by LS Digger Barnes for links:
http://www.lavasofts...ndpost&p=125583 But I think they will not answer during the weekend.

[beach_defender]

Hi,
I recently paid for a copy of adaware and since then searching the net has been a nightmare because of it.


When I type in a URL, I get hijacked as follows:

http://www.pagenotfo...weeather.com.au


Notice the misspelling of 'weather'.

I want this behaviour stopped, immediately.

I neither know or trust this pagenotfound site, it seems like a scam to me and it is extremely disappointing that I have actually paid for software that does this.

I have tried to turn it off from adaware, firefoxes config and turned of all adaware extensions in Chrome (I do not use IE).

Please tell me how to stop this obnoxious intrusion on my being.
stay well,
Barry

[CeciliaB]

Hi beach_defender,

I have merged your two topics since they are about the same thing.

Personally I selected during the installation of Ad-Aware that I did not want the toolbar and I have not noticed any difference when I mistype a URL, I am still informed that Firefox cannot find the server.

Maybe it is controlled by keyword.URL in Firefox advanced configuration (about:config).
As far as I know Chrome is not even supported by the toolbar.
http://toolbar.lavasoft.com/info.aspx
Does your Chrome fetch any settings from Firefox?

[DavidSilverlight]

Whoever came up with that idea needs to know what a bad decision that is. If any company should know specifically why that is such an absolutely terrible idea, it should be lavasoft. The funny thing is that when I cam across it the first couple of times, I googled for "Broswer Redirect Virus", but then the next thing I did was too run adaware on my machine to find out what has hijaaked my machine. The last thing I would have guessed is that this virus (er., I mean browser add-on) would have been installed by lavasoft.

I am totally puzzled at how anybody at lavasoft actually put thought into this and concluded "Yep, this idea is a winner!". Please have that person stand up in front of the rest of their development team to explain the exact thought process that went into this idea.

[DavidSilverlight]

Ah, I figured it out. When you type in a wrong search criteria, it hijaaks your URL to a parking site where Lavasoft makes a few cents for each person seeing the ads generated by your misspelling, so they make extra money by each person that lands on that page. No worries, you do have a few options:

a) You can leave your browser hijaaked and help to make a few extra bucks for Lavasoft
You can uninstall the toolbar so that you do not have the features which adware would normally offer through that toolbar.

I guess the tough economy causes people to make business decisions they wouldn't normally make.

[Pierre67]

If you don't like it just get rid of it.

[CeciliaB]

This is certainly not the first time that typos in URLs leads to pages with links or ads. The first time I can find is 2007, when Dell, in cooperation with Google, put such a page in the settings for Internet Explorer: http://searchenginel...wing-fire-11283

OpenDNS does the same thing:

OpenDNS earns a portion of its revenue by resolving a domain name to an OpenDNS server when the name is not otherwise defined in DNS. This has the effect that if a user types a non-existent name in a URL in a web browser, the user sees an OpenDNS search page. Advertisers pay OpenDNS to have advertisements for their sites on this page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDNS#Privacy_issues.2C_conflicts_and_Google_redirection

AVG (at least some years) included (includes?) a Yahoo toolbar: http://www.calendaro...&event_id=44514

Avira has included (included?) Ask toolbar: http://securitygarde...oolbar-and.html

[DavidSilverlight]

While it may not be the first time, in each of those links, you can see the end result in extremely negative perceptions, such as being removed from the "recommended list" that they were in before. So, while on the surface, you may be thinking that this may be a perfectly fine defense, it can lead to some very far reaching negatives. To just name a few:

a) Users like me, who used to recommend AdAware, do the opposite. In today's social world, the opposite is no longer just telling people they know to never use this product, but also tweeting, posting in Facebook and other social networks, spreading the word awful quickly.

In the case of this company, people very quickly come across articles about the new owners of Lavasoft. The results speak for themselves. https://www.google.c...iw=1192&bih=711

c) When anybody, including companies that need to evaluate software like this, do even a little bit of searching about the company, the obvious conclusion is to buy another product. I know I did and they now have my money instead of Lavasoft.

d) Remember, this thing is especially negative for a company like this. A metaphor that comes to mind is that if somebody steals something from you, it is naturally a bad thing. If you hire security security guards from a company to work for your business and you find out that it is their policy to allow them to steal things, it is a thousand times worse. Sure, you will be unhappy about your wallet and company items missing, but you will be very quick to spread the word about how that security company will put people in your business that will steal things instead of protecting you from theft.

So, go ahead and defend them if you will with the "They are not the first to do this", but not everybody will buy into that. Just my 2cents. ;)Remember, I used to be a customer who loved the product, but switched products after facebook recommendations. Prior to this issue, I would not have done an ounce of research to even know any of the bad things about this company. After learning them, it becomes impossible to "not switch".

[CeciliaB]

Note that I am not a Lavasoft employee.

I remember when Comodo included Ask Toolbar many years ago, the first security program to include that type of toolbar, and it blow full storm in all security related forums, blogs etc., but that hasn't stopped people from using Comodo and it isn't even a particularly good antivirus program. Nor has people stopped using Avira or AVG. I think you can find pages with persons being very negative about almost all antivirus programs.

I believe in giving persons a second chance.

Sorry, if my English is difficult to understand.

[DavidSilverlight]

Hello Cecilia, non-employee who answers questions on this forum, your English is actually quite good. Where are you from?

Well, I am not familiar with the whole "Ask Toolbar" issue, but I still think that installing a toolbar vs having your anti-malware software hijaak your browser are different. But great, lavasoft can enjoy the bad press. Not my company. Lavasoft does have one additional thing to worry about that Comodo didn't. Lavasoft was just bought by the people that created the types of software that AdAware is supposed to protect against. So when people try to figure out how to remove the browser hijaaker that AdAware has installed, they will make the connection and it sure looks suspect.

Well, I am just offering advice. Sure, those companies still are in business. Who knows, maybe the extra money Lavasoft is making from hijacking the browser pays for your "Volunteer" time. At the same time, PCMag marks it as editor's choice this year. Nice banner on the site. Next year, will they with these types of "features"? Will the other reviewers do the same when their magazines try to name which product is the best. If I was a reviewer for a high level magazine, you can guess what my review would be like.

Well, I say go for it. Take the strategy and build on it. You could even double down and install some of those popup malware apps for "health" pills in the users browser also. Lots of money to be made in them, ya know. Plus, the new owners are experts in that area, so it would be super easy for them. Well, I have added all I can, so good luck with this strategy and I will check back a year from now to see how well it worked.

[CeciliaB]

Hi DavidSilverlight,

Thanks, I'm from Sweden.

I'm here in the forum because I like helping people. The money definitely doesn't go to me or any other person answering questions in the forum, but maybe to keep the forum and update servers running for the free version. But that is only a guess, I have no information at all about Lavasoft's finances.