Patchou: You are an <insert unflattering description here> - Part 4
Details of installation environment.
Standard Windows XP Service Pack 2, running IE6 and the inbuilt pop-up blocker.
The pop-ups successfully evade Internet Explorer's pop-up blocker because of the following entries added by the Sponsor Program to the Pop-Up Blocker settings:
Not only does the Sponsor Program deliberately bypass XPSP2 protections, the pop-ups that appear via said bypassing, more often than not, try to download software onto your system.
The EULA
"The use of a third-party uninstaller or anti-spyware program may damage the Software and/or otherwise constitute a violation of this license.... You agree that you will only uninstall the Softrware from your computer by following the instructions set forth above and you will not initiate, permit, authorize or assist any third party or application to remove the Software from your computer, or disrupt its operation or the operation of any other user." This means we are not allowed to use AdAware, Windows Defender, Spybot or any other third party product to remove the Sponsor Program.
Interestingly the EULA says "The added bookmarks...may be removed manually". Not on my system!! They do not appear in "Organize Favorites", or Windows Explorer, and right click of the Sponsor added Favorites is disabled in IE.
Another entry in the EULA - "If incorrect host-file entries are detected for this Software's related domain names, those entries will be removed in order for this software to function properly". This means that a protective HOSTS file, such as that available from http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm is neutralised.
Then there's this:
"You represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years of age and that you are the owner or are authorized by the owner of this computer to download and install software on this computer...you agree to provide a copy of CiD's Privacy Policy and this Agreement to any users of this computer and obtain their consent to this Agreement and the Privacy Policy...unless you can legally accept this Agreement on behalf of all other users of this computer."
And:
"You hereby grant your explicit approval for this software to communicate from this computer system through your software firewall or hardware routing system (if present) with CiD's host network. For users of Windows XP Sp2 this softwares [sic] host domain names will be added to your web browsers [sic] list for popups....your firewall or router may not prompt you for communication access once this software is installed."
Summary: The Sponsor Program deliberately bypasses XPSP2's pop-up blocker; it removes protective entries from HOSTS files, it *may* edit your firewall settings to grant itself unfettered access to and from the net (blocked on my system by Group Policy). Older, vulnerable operating systems, or systems running with lowered security settings, will be infected with additional malware products automatically. You won't just get the "Sponsor", you'll get the Sponsor and lots of other crap.