Free Stuff hosts and Xupiter software It is not usually our policy to deny Free Stuff items based on where they are hosted unless they fall outside our guidelines. However we have come to the conclusion that providing links to sites which attempt to install the Xupiter toolbar (a very intrusive and almost impossible to remove piece of nuisanceware/spyware, see http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57467,00.html" target="_blah for more info) would be irresponsible due to the amount of damage that this software can cause to the machines of people who unwittingly install it. Consequently, we will not approve Free Stuff links which go to sites that bring up the Xupiter installer. Thank you for your co-operation, caleb68, Free Stuff Moderator.

Just to add - we really do appreciate all the time and effort that people take to create free items, and we understand how much bandwidth costs, but due to the potential damage that Xupiter can cause we have to refuse freebies that are on sites with Xupiter downloads. True, most of those sites have a pop-up that allows you to refuse the download/installation, but one wrong click and your system is, in effect, infected. This policy only affects a few people that we're aware of, and we are sorry that we have to refuse their freebies, but we don't want to put people's computers at risk. Thank you very much for your understanding! Crescent Moderator

Would it be inappropriate to ask which free hosts you have found that have attempted to install Xupiter? Any of the biggies?

I was wondering the same thing, Nance... Besides, does it install without asking for user permission or does it "ask" you if you want it to be installed?

geocities, yahoo, msn, and fortunecity seem to be free of it sofar, so no not none of the biggies. yes it does 'ask' but how many times have you hurried along and 'clicked' something in the wrong box?

that is not always the case cal. I hit one site and it installed automatically. All of a sudden my google toolbar was gone and I hade this Xupiter crap in it's place. It is possible to get rid of it you need AdAware from Lavasoft (germany) http://www.lavasoft.de You can run AdAware and it gets rid of Xupiter and lots of other stuff in your system. I threatened Xupiter with legal action. I had lawyer friend of mine send them a nasty note. I sent along before and after captures of me hitting a site that dose an auto-install..

i've seen a gator auto install (shiver another nightmare) but never a xupiter auto install. guess i've been lucky so far. Xupiter is consider a cuss word at my local job, gator we've been able to successfully remove with ease, but Xupiter, even with adaware (lavasoft.de) Xupiter will have already caused non reversable registry damage.

If we find a link with Xupiter on it, we'll let the person know. Sometimes those things aren't obvious, especially if the person is already infected with it. If I had a list of known Xupiter providers, I'd be posting it everywhere I know. I hate those sick SOBs. I work in IT and I've had colleagues end up with Xupiter on their machines and they're very careful about avoiding those sorts of things. I don't know if it was a misclick or an autoinstall, but suddenly Xupiter was happy screwing up the browser and it was a PITA to get rid of. I'm not entirely sure the anti-spyware is always successful, and Xupiter is constantly updating itself, so some versions may not be cleaned out properly with AdAware and such. Is it safe to rely just on antivirus software, or is it better to use some common sense and avoid files like annakournakova.jpg.pif? Cheers!

thanks for the info on this xstupider software i have found it on many of the computers at my work, i have found by disabling IE third party plugins (internet options/advanced tab) mostly helps with xstupider, but it still lurks and I cant completely remove it yet, i dont have admin rights at work yet...

zonealarm. Stops most of the webs malicious little bugs. If something tries to install it must pass the firewall. Could be a nuisance sometimes but it stops everything from popups to banners to unwanted cookies and malicious scripts. It also reports the IP's that tries to access your comp. Combine this with Kaspersky antivirus and your pretty much safe.

I'm sure people are aware of this one but just in case, theres also one that tries to install stuff from C2 or LOP.com, even after running adaware and spybot search and destroy it had killed my explorer to the point where i had to completely uninstall it, mess with registries etc in order to be rid of it totally, in most cases it will "tell" you you need this software to use the site properly which is a lie and mmisleading in the first place but i have had LOP.com self install as well from a popup window for a site i had no intention of looking at....

The software called System Mechanic does a mighty fine job of cleaning up system registries.

I second the vote that System Mechanic, from iolo software, does an incredible job of cleaning system registries as well as a few other tweaks. Worth every penny.

another side note here - Zone Alarm will not block it unless you have already told it to. if there is indeed a self installer for it this would not help.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1215829

• FortuneCity is VERY, VERY bad- as I posted in my thread about Happyworldland, they pop-up 2 spyware boxes (Whenu.com and Orbit Browser plug-in) and at least 1 pop-up advertising window.
• Tripod, possibly.
• Angelfire, possibly, though I haven't checked there recently.
• And many "free" web-hosting companies: basically, if it's "free" for the account holder, the visitors "pay" by having to install the spyware.

well looks like fortunecities been added to the list ;) thanks for sharing the thread, wasn't aware of its existance :)

Angelfire has a bit, but so far nothing really bad. They have popups that do a bit of cookie tracking. But from what I can tell, nothing that gets rooted in the registries (where the PITA spyware likes to lurk.) They are in conjunction with that CometCursor thing, but from what I understand is that you can use the regular program uninstaller to get rid of it. From what I can tell by checking my own Angelfire page is that there's a popup or two. But nothing that corrupts my browser or goes about covertly hogging system resources. At least that's the track record so far. If anyone else finds otherwise, I'd like to know.

yeah angle fire isn't bad its once in a great while they pop up, and there usually the less intrusive ones, were mainly concerned about Xupiter.

I've been really lucky as a network admin so far. I run a SonicWALL and Symantec corporate AV and for the 8 month life of the network there has been no virus or spyware activity... I'm glad to have found this thread though.. thanks caleb

be leary of Symantec Norton 2003 Virus Scanner. We just returned over $2k awhile back of that software because It was destroying the registeries on WinXP Machines. Were using AVG Virus scanner now instead. Seems more stable as well.

I'm using Symantec Corporate AV 8.0 for 2k Servers, not Norton...This is a MUCH better product than their Norton line. Lots of $$$! I'd need some really special proof from anyone saying they'd found a better AV package. ~illicit

hehe I think we got a tad side tracked on the subject ehre but hey ill throw my 2 bits worth never the less I work for on of the big ISP's out there as a Tech Support agent and this is what we suggest to our customers.... #1 Ad-Ware is the best (FREE) software out there to kill spyware. Most of us arn't made of money so that is the best way to go. #2 Anti-Virus software is like Ford and Chevy... ask a Ford driver what is the best truck and he will always say the same about Fords being the best. The point here is simply GET ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE regardless of who. anythin gis better then nothing and ALL and i do mean ALL anti software has the potential to mess with a machine... its the nature of the beast. Get what you can afford and backup your systems. #3 If your haveing troubles with pop-ups get a popup blocker... again for the price in my opinion a program called Crazy Browser is one of the best (and its free) #4 A firewall is designed to stop incomeing and out going traffic that YOU do not know about... if you click on the ok button to download something the firewall steps aside adn lets it threw... so be wary of where you click. If it "automatically" downloads check your browser settings nothing automatically downloads except when set to. Either which way run Ad-Aware once a week and youll catch most of what gets threw to your machine (spyware wise at least). That said heheh i am sure there will be plenty arguements on the subject... jsut remember its only my opinion, but it does seem to work for the 50+ people i talk to everyday. Cal thanks for takeing the responcability of trying to help stop all of this crap on the web not many companies do.

Shatter, is there any way to run Ad-Aware on the whole LAN at once?

Or remotely to the desktops?

I believe and dont qoute me on this one that is one of the features in the pro vrs of it... the frreebie vrs of most software is simply not intended to use on lan or network expecially with multi users... you can (in the case of my home LAN) put a copy on each machine (arrgghh i have 11 here) and set it to run on a scedule. That is unfortunately all i have been able to come up with, with out spending money on it

Sweet, thanks!

Illicit another note on that... maybe helpful is Crazy Browser has a groovy way of setting the .exe file of any program in to its taskbar (great for tools and stuff in my line of work) but you could set it to AD-Ware and if you suspect something you could have it up and running a nano-secound faster by the way www.crazybrowser.com is wehre you get that from

Hm, clicked on the link in the first post and on that page it says Xupiter is an Internet Explorer toolbar program.. Does this mean this Xupiter only affects (or is it effects?) IE? I don't use this M$ sh** - am I save with Netscape and Opera?

Attached Link: Free Hosting from ProHosting

a quick way to get rid of some, but not all of this is to go through your Cookies folder. Don't delete everything, but anything named 'doubleclick', 'hitfinder', and such, will do things to your browsing. I just finally found out how to get rid of 'SaveNow', which pops up as soon as I leave the home page. (If you have it, it installs like a regular program, you can uninstall it, but don't fall for the 'woops, you've just uninstalled' message that comes over. I leave the 'rosity and Daz, but there's some on Daz that will require you to reregister if you delete it. now if we could only ask them which ones not to delete..;)

Attached Link: H/T: Stop Spyware

Actually Pak.. delete it all its a called a temp folder for a reason :)

Like the guy above mentioned. Get another browser, such as Netscape, and your troubles will be gone for the most part. Netscape includes a pop-up blocker already, so that's just another nice thing about it. i read on another forum where a guy paid $30 for an app to disable pop-ups on IE, why? Other browsers are free.

you can get a free popup blocker for IE, yes, there are pay ones that anyone can buy and usually do more then just block popups. Some people loth Netscape, like myself, so they would rather stick with IE or mozzila. Problem is these little explorer bars aren't only for IE all the time, there just as bad for Netscape, mozilla n' the rest most the time. Rather then expecting everyone to change there browser to avoid someones evil plugin were avoiding sites that use the evil plugin, the lesser of the two evils. two good sites for free hosting: Pro Hosting Free Hosting Solution Bravenet Hosting

Just for the record.... Crazy browser is IE. its jsut a highbreed of it so to speak. basically its IE+ a bunch of other things added to it, even uses the same icons as IE. biggest difference is the pop-up blocker, and it tabbed interface.

And more for the record, Mozilla is Netscape. I run a mac now, but i remember the days I had 98, and didn't know what I was installing, it can be a mess.

Unfortunately there are many sites that run OK with IE but get screwed up when you try to use them with Netscape. What would be better would be for someone to take action against Xupiter at source. Virus writing is a crime and you can be sent to jail for it. Xupiter arguably does criminal damage to computers so it should be possible to bring a prosecution.

Yeah, and while were at it, lets stop those folks in Nigeria from spamming....I really dont care if theyre part of the disbanned royal family that needs breast and penis enlargements while making C - A - S - H N0W!!!!!!!

{I work for on of the big ISP's out there as a Tech Support agent and this is what we suggest to our customers....} Then, if you don't mind, can you answer this question: If so many people are blocking this junk, and presumably, the tech people KNOW people are blocking the junk, WHY do the hosting companies even have it in the first place? Signing a deal with Xupiter results in: 1) Xupiter is blocked or removed by Ad-Aware (Xupiter loses out) 2) People see the pop-window and get annoyed at the website owner and tells everyone to stay away (the website owner and hosting company lose out) So, where is the benefit for taking money from the Xupiter company? The small payments they (may) give you will not make up for lost vistors/ customers and lost reputation.

Its a simple combination of numbers vs. what people know... In other words We have 8 million + customer base We speak to less then 10% of those customers in a given year I would wager to bet (and this is not a known number) less then 1% of that 10% actually call me to complain about a pop-up and what to do and we fix the problem. (Add a few in there that are getting hosed they dont know and we "educate" them) Now take a company that creates these programs they get for ease of numbers lets say they get 10 companies to advertise... the company pays out 3 cents for the pop up and 10 cents for a hit So lets say they hit only 1/2 of my companies customer base only 4 million 4 million pop ups at 3 cents a pop over roughly a years time times 10 companies = 1.2 million dollars. Minus expenses, blah blah blah; say they make 1/2 that $500,000.00 Subtract a couple small lawsuits knock down to $400,000.00 You just banked a decent profit Of course thats not exactly how it works but its close At the moment I am writing this Rederosity has 1643 people surfing 1643 X .03cents X 10 companies = $492.90 and lets say each of us tell 3 friends... thats $2k roughly we havent even dented them. Bottom line if we want this to stop you have to make a law for it the said thing is "technically" what they are doing is NOT illegal. Its a form of "advertising". We call it "nuisanceware/spyware" not a virus because its not malice-ly created to destroy your computer... its just a huge pain in the butt. Until we get millions and millions of surfers educated and 100's of thousands of companies like Cal's to stop this, its something we have to deal with. Right now we simply can't hurt the wallets enough!!!

Attached Link: http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html

Wooops.. I see that CyberStretch already started a new thread referenced above about Spywareblaster.

Two things - 1) It could be argued that changes to the registry of the sort that Xupiter makes constitute damage to data, even if not attempts to trash the whole PC. After all, many viruses have a quite innocuous payload, but distributing them is still a crime. 2) Unlike the Nigerian fraudsters, Xupiter is presumably a registered company with a real address. Lastly - if the existing law is not enough, we need a new one!

• Unfortunately there are many sites that run OK with IE but get screwed up when you try to use them with Netscape.* Yep, because some people don't bother to learn a little bit about HTML and think it's ok to make the site compatible to the worst browser around. A good coded site runs under IE, Netscape 6* and Opera 5* without problems. Netscape 4 is another story, it can't read css, layers and stuff, but N6 can.

netscape 4 didn't use standard HTML coding either so this presented a problem where you would have to make seprate coding for both IE and Netscape (remember all those sites what use to go 'IE Page here, Netscape Page Here'?) sense Ver. 6 that i'm aware of (dont know about 5) netscape switched back to using all the same html coding conventions.

There is a very good piece of freeware called Spybot Search & Destroy that will not only remove spyware, but vaccinate your comp against getting it in the future. I have not seen a Gator, Xupiter or C2lop popup since I started using it. It also can install a really good ad blocking hosts file, too, which makes web pages load much faster. And for those looking for free hosting that doesn't come with ads or popups and gives you a lot of freedom, look into getting a site at web1000.com. I moved my site there about a month ago and I am very happy with the services there.

Greetings, Sorry to be jumping in late abour Xupiter ... I asked my friend http://www.google.com about Xupiter and found these comments on wired: http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57467,00.html something about a use for your spare set of pinking shears.