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Description:
7FaSSt is an IE toolbar providing
a search field which queries the engine 7search.com.
How do you get it?
7FaSSt can be installed on your computer in two ways:
- If ActiveX is enabled in your browser
7FaSSt can be automatically installed on your system
using ActiveX protocols. This usually happens when
a user is forwarded to a site which has an affiliate
association with 7Search.com.
- 7FaSSt can also be installed
by a user by visiting the 7Search web site or a wide
range of freeware sites. 7Search identifies 7FaSSt
as being a 'browser accelerator' and boasts that it
is distributed by a variety of download sites.
Details:
Storing the tracked data in a database is bad enough,
but after installation, the user is asked to enter user
name and email address as if that would be necessary
for use. In addition to disclosing the fact that aggregate
information is actively shared with third parties such
as other subscribers, they inform you that any information
you enter into your browser is far from secure.
Some pertinent excerpts from the Privacy
Statement contained within the License Agreement:
"EM24 offers free downloadable Software
that collects data and other information based on the
web pages that the user of the Software visits. EM24
then uses this information to
supply statistics to Ranking.com and Trafficranking.com
(EM24 owned and operated web sites) subscribers. Based
on the web pages you visit we speculate as to the amount
of traffic/popularity a particular site has and supply
those results to the Ranking.com and Trafficranking.com
subscribers."
"PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: EM24’S
BROWSER ACCELERATOR GATHERS
AND HOUSES INFORMATION ABOUT THE WEB PAGES YOUR BROWSER
VIEWS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: THE URL THAT YOUR
BROWSER VISITS, THE DURATION OF TIME SPENT AT EACH URL,
THE IP ADDRESS THAT YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER HAS
PROVIDED FOR YOU, AND ANY UNSECURE INFORMATION YOU ENTER
ON THE WEB PAGE. EM24 DOES
NOT ENDEAVOR TO EVALUATE THE DATA IT GATHERS IN ORDER
TO DETERMINE THE IDENTITY OF THE BROWSER ACCELERATOR
USER, WHICH MAY CONTAIN
PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION SUCH AS YOUR IP
ADDRESS, UNSECURE ACCOUNT NUMBERS OR CREDIT CARD NUMBERS.
EM24 ONLY USES THE DATA TO DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC
TO A PARTICULAR WEB PAGE AND TO GENERATE ONE-CLICK SITE
DETAIL™ REPORTS FOR OUR USERS. ALL PERSONALLY INDENTIFIABLE
INFORMATION THAT IS INADVERTENTLY COLLECTED IS PURGED
AND NEVER PERMANENTLY STORED IN OUR DATABASE. BROWSER
ACCELERATOR CREATES AGGREGATED DATA ABOUT GROUPS OF
ITS USERS IN ORDER TO ANALYZE USAGE TRENDS AND IMPROVE
OUR SERVICES TO YOU. WE MAY PROVIDE INFORMATION GATHERED
BY OUR BROWSER ACCELERATOR WEB SITE IN AN AGGREGATE
FORM TO THIRD PARTIES SUCH AS OUR AFFILIATED SITES RANKING.COM
AND TRAFFICRANKING.COM. FOR EXAMPLE, WE MAY ADVISE SPONSORS
OF USAGE TRENDS IN ORDER FOR THEM TO BROADLY JUDGE THE
VALUE OF THE SERVICE FOR THEIR EMPLOYEES OR ORGANIZATION
MEMBERS. NO PERSONALY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION WILL
BE SHARED WITH THESE THIRD PARTIES.
How does it Violate
Privacy?
Once installed, this program forwards all of the addresses
visited during your time surfing on the internet to
the servers at 7search.com. Essentially anything that
is downloaded to your computer is tracked including
URL's of all pages visited and pseudo-URLS like "about:'.
It also manages to gather information about the local
file system, names of folders, images, files etc. It
accomplishes this mission by issuing a unique user ID
and cookies if you use the '7search' toolbar now conveniently
installed in your browser.
Are there any known
security issues?
Not at this time.
Stability problems:
There are no known stability problems with 7FaSSt at
this time, with the sole exception of inconvenience
if you use an internet gateway with an auto dial feature
since 7FaSSt will attempt to make an internet connection
every time you view a local folder.
Terminating 7FaSSt:
For Windows 98 and up:
- Click on Start > Settings > Control
Panel > Add/Remove Programs
- Scroll through the program listings
until you find the entry for "7FaSSt Search"
and then click "Remove". This will clean
out most of the installed program.
- Navigate to 'Downloaded Program Files'
in the Windows folder and remove the following entries:
'{669695BC-A811-4A9D-8CDF-BA8C795F261E}' and 'FSInstall_1
Control'. (The latter is not actually an installer;
it's just used by the installing web page to set an
affiliate and unique user number before installing
the software.)
- Click on Start > Run and type "regedit",
then click "OK".
- Scroll down to the folder named: 'HKEY_CURRENT_USERS"
- Move to the sub folder"Software"
and select the "7Search" folder.
- Delete this folder.
- Restart your Computer to allow the
new registry settings to take effect.
Ad-Aware can also remove 7FaSSt, with reflist 038-16-08-2002
and later.
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