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New Pop-up ads are now downloading software to your PC
Watch out for pop-up downloads

By Stefanie Olsen
Special to ZDNet News
April 8, 2002, 4:00 AM PT

Web surfers who thought online advertisements were becoming increasingly obtrusive may be dismayed by a new tactic: pop-up downloads.
In recent weeks, some software makers have enlisted Web site operators to entice their visitors to download software rather than simply to view some advertising. For example, when visiting a site a person may receive a pop-up box that appears as a security warning with the message: "Do you accept this download?" If the consumer clicks "Yes," an application is automatically installed.

Computer security expert Richard Smith explained that with such downloads, "You don't even know why you're getting this program, and the people who do (pop-up downloads) are relying on the fact that people tend to say 'Yes.'"

"A person should (be able to) request the download" if they want it, or decline it if they don't, he said. "It's the classic opt-in, opt-out debate."

In some cases, people are not even asked whether they want the software. It just installs on the hard drive--a particularly troublesome tactic that some have dubbed "drive-by download."

Some Net users have complained of receiving downloads containing a virus that automatically redirects them to adult-related sites. Such downloads also have been known to install new dial-up programs replacing the existing accounts. The Federal Trade Commission recently brought a case against people who were using such tactics to install a dial-up account for expensive 1-900 numbers.

But those horror stories are the exception. More typically, software makers are simply using the downloads to distribute legitimate products.

One well-known practitioner is Gator, a company that makes a helper application that manages passwords and user IDs. While many people find the software to be useful, Gator also has built in some more questionable features.

The company came under fire last year for selling ads that appeared over the top of ads already existing on major sites such as Yahoo.

While Gator later retreated from its earlier practices, about six weeks ago it turned to download advertising, called "one-click opt-install," on various partner sites.

In addition, online advertising network L90 has sold the one-click downloads on various consenting network sites. Its ad network includes AllBusiness.com, The Golf Channel online and Hollywood.com, according to its Web site.

Look at me
Ads-as-downloads are the latest ploy by software makers to help aggressively distribute technology to a wider audience. They also represent the newest twist on pop-ups and other attention-getting pitches.

In the last year and a half, Net advertising has undergone vast transformations as publishers have sought new revenue sources to make up for a sharp decline in ad dollars. As a result, ads appear bigger, obscure content for a brief time, or use sound to attract attention.

And that's just on the top sites. In less-trafficked areas of the Net, the tactics are even bolder. Some Web sites have been known to launch up to 10 pop-up pages or to use tricks such as "mousetrapping," in which the site launches multiple windows when the visitor tries to exit the page. This clutter has created a haven for pop-up downloads because consumers find it hard to determine the ad's origin.

For Gator, triggering a download via an ad boosts distribution of its wallet and bundled marketing software, the OfferCompanion. To support its free software, the company sells targeted ads to nearly 300 advertisers on OfferCompanion, which delivers price comparisons.

Gator's technologies have already been widely distributed through bundling deals with other popular applications such as WeatherBug and through direct distribution from its site. With nearly 13 million users, according to the company, it's pushing saturation, and it has sought to find new modes of distribution.

"When you hit critical mass, you don't have a lot of options...It's helping expand our reach," said Scott Eagle, marketing manager for Gator.

"We're working (directly) with publishers buying various pop-up advertising; one of them is the popping up of the (security) prompt. (It) says, 'Would you like to try this application? Click here if you do,'" said Eagle, adding that the campaign is still a small piece of the company's distribution.

Several Web publishers said they have been approached by L90 or Gator to run such download ads, but they refused out of fear of a consumer backlash.

"We thought it was dirty," said one Internet executive who asked to remain anonymous. "It's the kind of thing that makes the phone ring."

One executive referred to the download as a "warhead" because it's a small file that executes automatically and always runs in the background. The software verifies whether the computer already has the software, the system is compatible, and cookies are on.

Is it too easy?
Elliot Noss, owner of 9-year-old download site Tucows, said that though he was surprised to receive a prompt for a Gator download, he's savvy to such marketing tactics and declined to accept it. But he's not so sure a Web neophyte would know better.

"An unsophisticated user like my poor mother would have presumed it was something like a browser plug-in necessary to view the site and (would OK) the download," said Noss. "But downloading software especially for unsophisticated users can cause lots of grief and pain. Before something like a download is provided, it should be very clearly requested."

Gator's Eagle said the program is an easy way for visitors to download the software, and he emphasized that they are given the opportunity to click "No." He said the company has done extensive research to find out if this is a valuable means to install software; the results have been "overwhelmingly positive."

"There's no question that there (are) programs that are more aggressive. With this, there's some measure of permission," said Eagle.

Gator buys the ads by the thousands, but Eagle would not divulge what it pays. Sources in the ad industry say the company spends between $2 and $5 per thousand ads. Typical ad rates can run anywhere from about $7 to $20 for general rotation on a top site such as Yahoo. Gator also has affiliate relationships with many sites, which it pays $1 every time a visitor downloads its software.

Gator isn't the only software maker using this tactic to add consumers. Others advertising through downloads include Activator Download and C2 Media.

Meanwhile, InternetFuel, a marketing services company, sells creative ways for software makers to increase downloads. "Does your online business application require a download? InternetFuel can effectively market your download to the user. We offer a variety of delivery options," according to its Web site.

An L90 representative said download pop-ups have been allowed on its network. She said Gator's ad ran on its network of 150 publishers--of those that agreed--and a lower-profile set of publishers called Zonfire.

Among the sites that automatic downloads have appeared on are Innovators of Wrestling, MP3Yes.com, and the Web community site EZBoard. Such sites often launch so many pop-up windows it's hard to determine where the download originated.

A representative for the Interactive Advertising Bureau said the practice is so new that the organization could not comment specifically on it. But the representative said the IAB generally endorses practices that are clearly labeled and are not deceptive.

The IAB recently signed off on a Gator initiative, called online advertising "rules of engagement," which espoused the importance of clearly marking advertisements and the origin of ads.

"Consumers want control of their PCs," Gator President Jeff McFadden said in a statement. "They're confused as to who is responsible for displaying these high volumes of uninvited pop-ups and pop-unders, and they are becoming frustrated. This is hurting ad responsiveness and is giving a black eye to the online advertising industry."
lincoln
"Four score and seven years ago, I had a better sig"
New apt-get install junkbuster
There really is no need to suffer, you know.


Peter
[link|http://www.debian.org|Shill For Hire]
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
New Not a problem
Very few pop-ups know how to download OS/2 software. As for Windows users - they're just getting what they deserve. For every predator there is a rightful prey.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
New The last holdout!!!
I admire your tenacity. I never surf with nuttin' but OSX or 'nux... Keeps the del c:\\*.* kind of stuff guessing. Ditto for email.

Can't wait for .net to get rolling :-)

Serious question, how long will you hold out on OS/2? I was a long time user ('til about '98) and finally started to feel like the world was passing me by. I know from your posts, over the years, that are not easily swayed by the herd mentality... but are you gonna break down and join the "brave new world"?
Just a few thoughts,

Screamer (aka dreck, danreck)

"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution, take a bow for the new revolution, smile and grin at the change all around, pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday..."

P. Townshend

"Nietzsche has an S in it"
Celina Jones
New If something works, leave it alone :)
TAM ARIS QUAM ARMIPOTENS
New We see no reason to move off OS/2
All the office computers run OS/2, but we do have a machine that has interchangeable hard disks that runs Windows 98 SE some of the time. It's up right now to print out an Excel contract where StarOffice OS/2 runs a signature line onto the next page. Ooops - splits it to two pages on Excel too.

What we run here is:
  • Papyrus - the most efficient word processing and light desktop publishing application available (with integrated spreadsheet and database). No incentive to change to inferior products here (also available for Windows and Atari).
  • SuperCalc 3 spreadsheet for DOS (anything that needs presentation quality is done on Papyrus).
  • Mozilla 0.9.9 for OS/2 (also available for Windows and others).
  • ZTree for OS/2 - XTree Gold clone (also available for Windows)
  • Inhouse developed accounting apps (DOS)
  • PMMail - about the best mail reader you can get anyway (also available for Windows).
  • Kon - context highlighting text editor for programming and Web page development.
  • StarOffice 5.1 for OS/2 - just occasionally to read an MS Office document (also available for Windows and Linux).
  • PMView - super program for viewing and manipulating images, including crop and rescale, color balance and palette editing (also available for Windows).
  • Embelish - full function drawing and image edit program (also available for Windows).
  • Home Page - Web page generator - don't actually use this because I'm a control freak and use the Kon text editor.
  • Vigilant accounting and POS, and Appgen accounting (both run in terminal session from Linux server) for customer support.
  • PMFax LAN - used heavily for faxing directly from all applications.
  • Zoc - modem cummunications (also availble for Windows).
  • FTP-It - great FTP program for uploading Web pages and downloading drivers.
  • Adobe Acrobat - v3.0 is starting to gripe now and then, so we may have to move to the Java version.
  • Drafix CAD for DOS. Not much need for CAD, but this does the job when I do need it.
  • Lots of minor programs and utilities.
The only functions we use Windows for is to read in camera images, run the scanner, and burn CD-ROMS. All these functions are available for OS/2 but our needs are so light we haven't bought the software.

I have no interest in games, DVD or music "sharing", so none of that is a problem.

I expect in a few years we may have to move at least partially to Linux desktop, but until Papyrus for Linux is released that isn't really an option - I'm just not willing to take that kind of productivity hit.

Oh, yes, now that we no longer use Netscape Navigator, we don't have lockups so we no longer have to reboot once a week.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
Expand Edited by Andrew Grygus April 9, 2002, 02:37:50 PM EDT
New Why bother...
when the linux desktop can be [link|http://ais.gmd.de/~veit/os2/xf86os2.html|moved to you].

You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson

[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
New eCS includes HobLink X11
[link|http://www.hob.de/www_us/produkte/connect/X11-OS2.htm|HobLink X11] lets you run an X11 session in a window on your OS/2 desktop. I've tried it out and found it to be pretty slick.

Well lookie [link|http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0402H/vnewsf3.htm|here] in the April VOICE edition

Darrell Spice, Jr.

[link|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore

New Thanks all for the links and rationale...
I guess my next question is ... 2.1 or 3 (Warp)? I still have my 28 floppies (like all good ex-ISSC'ers should have :-) ) Mayhaps I should dual boot with Debian? I saw Be and Spiceware's links to xfree and Hoblinx... Man, talk about radical, OS/2 X86 session to my OSX box to my Solaris box! A Ballmer nightmare? I've got to try it! My Intel box currently has XP (I have to support it...) and I'm dying for an excuse to reformat it, if for no other reason, to defragment the drive. Reformat, 28 OS/2 disks, Debian, apps install would still probably take less time than to defrag an XP machine... seriously.

I've never used Papyrus, but you've picqued my curiousity. As well, it's good to see the .9 build of Mozilla (what I currently am using)...

I'm just surprised that there is still such a loyal group.
Just a few thoughts,

Screamer

"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution, take a bow for the new revolution, smile and grin at the change all around, pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday..."

P. Townshend

"Nietzsche has an S in it"
Celina Jones
New All v4.0 fp 12 & 14
Performance of some DOS programs goes completely to hell with Fixpack 14. Don't know why yet, but computers that run a lot of DOS stuff I'm leaving at Fixpack 12 or 13 for now.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
New He's not the last
Boxley puts it quite well :-) I've been running OS/2 since '94, it's the only OS on my main system.

Things are still "happening" for OS/2, though it's probably not so noticeable to the "outside world". A few days ago Innotek released [link|http://www.innotek.de/products/virtualpc/virtualpcgeneral.html|Virtual PC for OS/2]. They also released [link|http://www.innotek.de/products/flash/flashnews_e.html|Flash 5 Player] towards the end of January.

I can deal with Word documents using Lotus SmartSuite, which comes bundled with eComStation(the "new" OS/2).

For internet access I'm using the OS/2 port of Mozilla. While slower than Netscape, it doesn't lock up, plus it has the really nice feature of disabling pop-up windows.

Unlike Andrew, I am into games and DVDs - but I prefer to play those on my 65" HDTV rather than my 19" computer monitor. I have a Sony Playstation2 for the games(due to M$ I won't ever buy an Xbox). If you visit my [link|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/|homepage] you can see that for the most part I take care of my retrogaming needs myself :-)

I periodically use Win98 on my laptop for work support. I also use it once a week to scan my parents mail and email it to them(they now reside in Mexico, mom pays the bills online). The laptop also has OS/2 and Linux(Suse 7.3pro). For my digital photos I have a PCMCIA adapter and just read the compact flash card under OS/2. Linux I mostly use for ripping CDs to make MP3s for my [link|http://www.linux-hacker.net/imod/imod.html|hacked iopener], which also runs Linux(Red Hat 7.2).

Darrell Spice, Jr.

[link|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore

New Got Windows? Get Mozilla, turn off pop-ups.
Most pop-up ads are HTML based anyway, all they need do is have some Javascript that will open up a file that is a Windows executable.

The Warez/Cracks sites do this, as does many other sites. I was looking for an unprotect, when I found later four ZIP files on my system that I did not download, that had a virus in each one. If I didn't have the AV scan each day, and update it at least every week, I may have caught something.

Enough to move me to Linux or BeOS because of all the WINTEL viruses out there.

I am free now, to choose my own destiny.
     Pop-up ads are now downloading software to your PC - (lincoln) - (11)
         apt-get install junkbuster - (pwhysall)
         Not a problem - (Andrew Grygus) - (8)
             The last holdout!!! - (screamer) - (7)
                 If something works, leave it alone :) -NT - (boxley)
                 We see no reason to move off OS/2 - (Andrew Grygus) - (4)
                     Why bother... - (bepatient) - (1)
                         eCS includes HobLink X11 - (SpiceWare)
                     Thanks all for the links and rationale... - (screamer) - (1)
                         All v4.0 fp 12 & 14 - (Andrew Grygus)
                 He's not the last - (SpiceWare)
         Got Windows? Get Mozilla, turn off pop-ups. - (orion)

If I wanted conversations like that, I'd talk to my girlfriend on the phone.
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