deviner, any reason you want to put gator on my system? The freebie looks nice but nothing is that nice. While I'm on that touchy subject, I wish folks would not make you go into a site blind. There are a few new items that won't let you download unless cookies are set to accept. Again, no freebie is worth allowing cookies from who knows where on my system. Spybot stopped the gator from downloading. Marque

I checked with Firefox. The domain consultant.com where diviner's e-mail contact is appears not to exist. Firefox stopped many pop-ups, and the whole situation of this "you are visitor number 500000 or so gives me a bizarre feeling, even more because when you close the window, you get another one with a congratulations, you won a ..." Mods, please check this out! btw: it is diviner, not deviner

gator is malware that can attach itself to a site..but it's the Back Street Boys of the internet..could be worse, like cool web search..Ad-Aware will also snag a lot of that stuff..

Not enough coffee to spell correctly today...lol Marque

Marque, all these files have been downloaded, unpacked and virus-checked (as with all freestuff items.) They are all fine. I do not receive any pop-ups on Diviner's site but that's probably because I don't use Internet Explorer. His host is Tripod and they force adverts and popups on their sites; it is probably not within Diviner's power to do anything about this. I'd suggest contacting Diviner directly and see if there is any other way of getting the files, if you are reluctant to do this via his site. Karen Poser Coordinator

Thanks for checking. Marque

Actually you may have had them come up but just didn't catch them, I would suggest you check your computer for gator and other nasty little critters. 8^) I apologize to Diviner, I thought gator was a popup for money. Marque

Nope, not for money, but one of the pests of spyware. It does not install itself from a zip (freebie) butwhen downloading a webpage. No virus scanner will trace it. You need AdAware or Spybot Search|Destroy to find and destroy it. What it does is install itself in the background of your puter and register your surfing habits. You understand this kind of digital tick can get very fat and eat up many system's resources. It may well be that this is a Tripod thing, but I find that Marque did very well to warn about this and I find that, because many people are not aware of spyware and what it does, diviner should be warned hat happens on this site, and the site should be removed from freestuff. Spyware is as bad as viruses. This does not answer though why the domain where he should be reachable seems to be non-existent. (I would have warned him personally, but decided first to check his "real" site: consultant.com )

HI this is diviner,
Firstly consultant.com is not a domain it is just part of my free email address on mail.com. Secondly if you have gotten Gator or any other stuff it is not from tripod or my site. I flew to the site in a full panic because I would be furious if something like that were going on. I contacted tripod and I also downloaded, unpacked and virus checked all the files to be certain that they were virus free. I also checked my machine to be certain that it did not have Gator or any malware that might be piggy backing on my files as I upload them. The files are virus free, my machine is virus free (checked with adaware, spybot search and destroy, mcafee and norton). If Gator is involved in this I will remind folks that Gator is packed into a number of freewares and also jumps on through some other sites. I have several sites through tripod and a community of users that have regularly visited my other sites for over 3 years. None of them have ever had problems with Gator or any other ware (most of them are personal friends and would tell me of it immediately). I am very distressed over all of this because I have wanted so badly to give something back to Renderosity and the Poser community in return for all knowledge and products that I have gathered here over the years. I am still waiting for a reply from tripod / Lycos. Frankly I use Firefox as well because it has such a great popup blocker. If anyone can tell me a good place to host my site and my files I would happily leave Tripod. I tryed the recommended site that the admin told me about but I cannot get the FTP to work. My situation is such that I am building as I go. I am on a fixed income and cannot purchase a domain until my first products are on the market. It took forever for me to save up the money to puchase Poser 5 and the other software that I use. I am VERY unhappy about this. I have had almost a 1000 downloads of my freebies since I put them up and this thread is the only place there has been any mention of anything happening. I have received dozens of emails complimenting my freebies and inquiering after custom made starwars and Mech type models. None of these folks has mentioned any malware. I have had some comments about there being some tripod popups though.

I am deep in investigation of this as I would rather have my freebies removed from Renderosity than think that I was infesting your machines with Gator!

William

I didn't get gator from your site and never said I did. What happened was as soon as I got to your site spybot advised me that gator was trying to install. Just tried again and it came up with the same thing. Something on your site is trying to install it without permission. You might want to check a little deeper. I am not trying to get you to stop giving away freebies. From now on I will just keep my mouth shut and move on without downloading. Sorry to upset anyone. Marque

Attached Link: http://www.lavers-place.com

Barring that you could also drop Fitzy a PM here or at PlanIt3D.com and ask about the possibility of them hosting your stuff. edited because my fingers are faster than my brain today

Message edited on: 11/27/2004 19:27

Marque, setting the cookies to reject 3rd party cookies doesn't interfere with going to sites. and will often stop this type of issue. if one of the ads in a popup is not on tripod's server and is linking to another site then it could be the source of the gator thing. diviner, most free site's are problematical with ftp, you can find a pay hosting service for as little as 8 USD a month. paying gets rid of ads from host so you have better control over this ype of issue for your products. http://nzwebit.com is a good economical host just checked thier site, 8 a year for a site with domain name included. 3gb space.

Marque, I am most distressed by this (the fact that it happened again). I have contacted Tripod and I believe that a 3rd party pop up is involved in this mess. Tripod replied to my first contact and said that they NEVER install Gator or any other software via pop up or page visit. They suggested that a third party pop up is the culprit and asked that if anyone can identify the popup they will see what can be done to quash it so that it is stopped. In the mean time I am seeking another place to handle my files. Laver's place was suggested to me by admin here at renderosity and I did indeed sign up with them. They are ones that I had the FTP propblems with. They have an FTP login on their site and it will not accept my login, I have emailed them but recieved no response...

I always keep both cookies on prompt only. When I go into your site I get a prompt for bravenet.com, then the spybot comes up and says gator is trying to load. Don't know if that helps. Going to run spybot and see if I can find out where it's coming from for you. Marque

Marque,
Firstly I want to thank you for bringing this to my attention. I for one am very glad that there are people like you that spread the word when something like this presents itself. It makes me very angry that folks cant go on the web without being hammered by web herpes like Coolweb search and Gator. Have no worries as far as bravenet they are the host for my free hit counter, I am going to remove my bravenet hit counter and use the crappy one from tripod as I dont want any unknown cookies scaring people. It is the whole Gator thing that worries me. Is the Gator prompt coming from a pop up or from my page? I wrote a second email to tripod and as soon as I can get the funds together I am most certainly going to get a domain name and get my stuff off of Tripod. It may seem rediculous that I cannot afford 10 dollars for a domain name at this point in time, but as I have already explained I am on a fixed income and every penny is accounted for in my budget. My next income will be about Dec 3rd and at that point I will be getting a domain and hosting. I'll go without poptarts and coffee this month :-)
What concerns me the most is that I have been putting the free stuff up as a way to thank folks like you that have been so great...

Message edited on: 11/28/2004 00:07

Marque: When I go into your site I get a prompt for bravenet.com, then the spybot comes up and says gator is trying to load. looks like it's bravenet diviner. definately not your stuff.

You rock marque! I have removed all bravenet features from my page. Please give it one more try and let me know if you get any further Gator threat. I really appreciate all this. Let me know if there is a prop in .3ds that is on your wish list and I'll build it for you to say thank you(whether the Gator crap is gone or not).