shortcut

Posted By: kjos

shortcut - 09/29/14 08:04 AM

when I open some of my shortcuts on my desktop a pop-up comes up at the bottom of the page. It's at the very bottom of the page. I can click on the X to get rid of it. I've got a popup blocker installed on my win 7. Thank you
Richard

Posted By: traveler

Re: shortcut - 09/29/14 08:39 AM

Do you have Ghostery installed, Richard?
Ghostery stops websites from tracking you and I've noticed that in browsers "other" than the Opera I use, it comes up in the lower right corner of the page I navigate to.
In my Opera, it's a smaller, less intrusive dark rectangle at the top right.
If you click on it, it goes away, having listed the programs - like Google Analytics - that track you on that site.
(I haven't seen any X to click on to make it disappear, though, and it goes away anyhow after a few seconds.)
If you've edited the blocking options and told Ghostery to stop the listed programs from tracking you they have lines through them.
If not, they're listed in bold white.

If it's not Ghostery, it may be a similar program that your pop-up blocker ignores since you supposedly want it there.

Gil.

Posted By: kjos

Re: shortcut - 09/29/14 08:45 AM

I have never heard of it, traveler, I will give it a try. I've still got the add on some of my shortcuts. It's a big add at the bottom. Ghostery didn't help me at all how do I delete it from my pc. Thank You
Richard

Posted By: traveler

Re: shortcut - 09/29/14 01:51 PM

Ghostery is a browser add-on, Richard.
It isn't installed on your computer, only in your browser.
What browser are you using?
In IE, go to Tools/Manage Add-ons and remove Ghostery if you don't want it.

Gil.

Posted By: kjos

Re: shortcut - 09/29/14 02:15 PM

I'm using Mozilla FireFox. It's on almost all of my shortcuts to.
richard

Posted By: Draclvr

Re: shortcut - 09/29/14 03:02 PM

What does the popup say? Is it the same all the time? You should not be getting this when you are simply clicking on shortcuts on your desktop. Are they shortcuts to websites or shortcuts to programs?

I'm sure this is part of the infection you have which you really need to get rid of before you install any more add-ons. Once you get rid of it, then Ghostery or Do Not Track me might help. The problem with both of these is that websites are not required to honor the software that indicates you do not want to be tracked. Facebook is one which will track you no matter what you have installed.

And speaking of add-ons, go into your Firefox addons and extensions and uncheck or disable every single one. If the problems stop, then you can decide if you really need any of them and re-enable them.

Go ahead and run CCleaner at least a couple of times, then run Malwarebytes and then download and run AdwCleaner. It will only run once and has gotten to be one of my favorite tools. Some of this spyware and adware respawns when you reboot and AdwCleaner gets it.

You can get AdwCleaner ***here***. It's from the bleepingcomputer website which is safe and doesn't have any other junk downloaded with it. It even explains what it does and how to use it.

Posted By: traveler

Re: shortcut - 09/29/14 03:16 PM

"...Ghostery or Do Not Track me might help. The problem with both of these is that websites are not required to honor the software that indicates you do not want to be tracked. Facebook is one which will track you no matter what you have installed."

Interesting.
Ghostery strikes out Facebook, indicating that it has been blocked.
Are you saying it is not really blocking FB?

Gil.

Posted By: kjos

Re: shortcut - 09/29/14 03:17 PM

shortcuts to programs It's not on all of the shortcuts. It covers about a inch on the bottom of the shortcut. It's kind of hard to explain it. It covers the whole bottom. There is a
x on the right hand side that I click to make it disappear. It's a one inch bar with a lot of adds. I have already got AVG.
I disabled (adblockplusie-1.1) and that must have helped I went into all my shortcuts and nothing at the bottom of the screen
I think I will leave Ghostery where it is. It's working good.

Posted By: Draclvr

Re: shortcut - 09/29/14 03:50 PM

Yup, Gil, that's right. Do Not Track Me says it's blocked Facebook, but it's well-known that you will get things popping up in the ads on your page (unavoidable) for things you've recently looked at on say Amazon. The problem with both these little programs is that the standard for compliance with the wish of the consumer to NOT be tracked is voluntary.

After I listened to a one hour discussion on the subject on NPR, I did more digging around. This article by Ed Bott explains it pretty well.

Why Do Not Track is a Failure

And this is the conclusion for a good comparison of Ghostery and Do Not Track Me Plus.

Quote:

Like Do Not Track itself, both of these plug-ins — and others like them — have their flaws. Blocking tracking can sometimes screw up the way webpages load unnecessarily. And if you have the tightest privacy settings turned on, you may miss the conveniences that things like social sharing buttons allow. Those are the primary downsides to using plug-ins like DNT+ and Ghostery.

When it comes down to blocking trackers — the point of these plug-ins — both seemed to perform equally. While Ghostery claims to block more than DNT+, I found that the number of trackers detected by each plug-in was generally about the same; sometimes Ghostery found more, sometimes DNT+ did. In all cases, the differences between the two were negligible.

Of the two, my personal preference is DNT+ for the simple reason that it blocks everything by default. Ghostery requires a bit more tinkering that I found a bit obnoxious. That said, many people swear by Ghostery. It just may be that they have more patience than I do.

Still, DNT+ is not without its faults. The social button replacement feature is a good idea, but still needs improvement. And the opt-out cookie installation, while not a problem for me, definitely puts some users off.

Regardless of which plug-in you choose, the result is the same: You get to control your data — not Facebook, Google, or anybody else.

Posted By: traveler

Re: shortcut - 09/29/14 11:11 PM

Drac,
I did not see that quote anywhere in the link you posted.
I didn't see a mention of Ghostery at all.
Perhaps it was somewhere else, in a link within the article?

At any rate, Ghostery is working for me, I'm pretty, sure because I cannot use Disqus.
Oh, darn.
Evidently I don't need "the conveniences social sharing buttons allow" since I block things right and left and so far haven't felt deprived.
Frankly, I have no idea what those conveniences are anyway.

Btw, Mr. Bott's crack about Ghostery being 'obnoxious' because you have to tinker with it was a little much.
As if you don't have to tinker with DNT+ if you want to take something off the block list it puts everything on by default?

Gil.

Posted By: Draclvr

Re: shortcut - 09/30/14 01:26 AM

I agree that it was a tad over the top. I posted it mostly because of Mr. Bott's information about why neither one really works when compliance with the Do Not Track standard is entirely voluntary.

The quote was from a comparison of the two where the reviewer was more balanced. He also said, he preferred Do Not Track Me Plus because of the extra tinkering required with Ghostery, but said that was a personal preference. I should have said it was a from a different article.

Even if it doesn't stop some tracking, I'll keep using my Do Not Track Me Plus because it has definitely helped my browsing. I'm sure Ghostery does the same. I should just use Ghostery because I simply like the name!

Posted By: Homer6

Re: shortcut - 09/30/14 06:47 AM

These people get away with tracking in the electronic world because the consumer really doesn't have leverage to stop it from happening. While in the RW if this would happen, and was known, those doing the tracking would lose business because customers would shop elsewhere. I wonder why it's considered okay in one area but not in another? If it's wrong in one area it's wrong in the other also.