Spybot-S&D has blocked the download of "Avenue A, Inc."!

[hoffer]

Hi Jeff,

I have been having an ever increasing problem with this issue.

About the only way I can view a page on this site is to repeatedly click the refresh button.

Has anyone other than me had this problem?

Great site BTW.

Rick

[Jeff Keller]

Though this sounds familiar. Hey Rhys, since you found problems before, is everything okay on your end?

[judge9847]

Avenue A is a cookie. As to whether or not it's spyware I think the jury's still out on that. Some might say it is whilst others might say it isn't.

I believe - but am far from sure - that he purpose of the cookie is to count the number of people who view ads and nothing else. There is no way for it know who is viewing the ad, just that a computer is displaying it. In other words, personal information is not being collected or transmitted. You will have to form your own views about that.

I would be pretty sure though that it is NOT triggered by any of the banner adverts at the top of forum pages here.

But what's happening is that Spybot is telling you that there is an attempt to download the cookie to your PC and that's why you are being pestered in the way you are. I believe you can set Spybot up to ignore the cookie all the time and not bother with telling you it has done it. I don't use Spybot so others might be able to help you with configuring that if you should need it.

The following was taken from eTrust Spyware Encyclopedia which is maintained by Computer Associates. Again, it's up to you to see how you feel about it all.

It says: "Avenue A provides ... Internet planning and buying, proprietary ad delivery and management, data collection and analysis, targeted e-mail, and enhanced marketing support, such as strategic partnerships and search engine optimization. Cookies and clickstream data are used to collect information.

Basically they are trying to make money out of following you around the web, seeing the sites that you visit, recording what they are and what they sell and then targetting different ads specifically to you. They get paid by the advertisers.

So if you're interested in digital cameras - which you are - the cookie will record that and then, when you visit Yahoo or plenty of other sites that are advertising funded/supported, you will get an advert from say one of the digital camera manufacturers or retailers. Simple as that.

If you've ever wondered why it is you get so many adverts for Dutch Cheese - just using that as an example! - it's because a cookie on your PC, which may or may not have been placed there by Avenue A, has recorded the fact that you visit lots of sites that specialise in Dutch Cheese.

Hope that helps.

[Rhys]

The easiest way to block Avenue A is to go to the security settings in Internet Explorer and enter their domain as banned.

[hoffer]

Thanks all,

"The easiest way to block Avenue A is to go to the security settings in Internet Explorer and enter their domain as banned."

Ryhs, isn't spybot doing that for me, I would think that blocking Avenue A in Internet explorer would result in the same problem....preventing the page requested on dcresource from loading.

I have encountered this problem on only 1 of the other many sites I visit several times daily. That site is the Atlanta Buisness Chronicle and after a couple of weeks I quess they changed something as I haven't had any problem since a few months ago.

I quess the question now is: is anyone else that uses spybot had similar problems.

I certainly don't want to give up spybot as it has picked up many nasty spyware intruders and eliminated others in the scans I have run....in fact when I finish this post I'm going to do another scan to see what shows up.

Thanks, Rick

P.S. Just hitting the back button after posting this reply spybot blocked again.

[Rhys]

Though this sounds familiar. Hey Rhys, since you found problems before, is everything okay on your end?

I've been using Firefox for the last few weeks so I haven't seen any avenue A hits. I should be in a better position to alert you to Avenue A attacks on Thursday, when I'm on my own PC (in Britain).

[judge9847]

Thanks all,

"The easiest way to block Avenue A is to go to the security settings in Internet Explorer and enter their domain as banned."

Ryhs, isn't spybot doing that for me, I would think that blocking Avenue A in Internet explorer would result in the same problem....preventing the page requested on dcresource from loading.

I have encountered this problem on only 1 of the other many sites I visit several times daily. That site is the Atlanta Buisness Chronicle and after a couple of weeks I quess they changed something as I haven't had any problem since a few months ago.

I quess the question now is: is anyone else that uses spybot had similar problems.

I certainly don't want to give up spybot as it has picked up many nasty spyware intruders and eliminated others in the scans I have run....in fact when I finish this post I'm going to do another scan to see what shows up.

Thanks, Rick

P.S. Just hitting the back button after posting this reply spybot blocked again.

It does seem to me that Spybot is doing exactly the job it's supposed to and warning you of an "attack" - too strong a word but you get my drift. It's why you're getting the "problems" you are.

Personally, I think it's an issue that would affect all browers, no matter what they are, so changing to another might not be a solution for you.

[Rhys]

It does seem to me that Spybot is doing exactly the job it's supposed to and warning you of an "attack" - too strong a word but you get my drift. It's why you're getting the "problems" you are.

Personally, I think it's an issue that would affect all browers, no matter what they are, so changing to another might not be a solution for you.

I just checked my cookies for Firefox and Avenue A is not present.

[judge9847]

I just checked my cookies for Firefox and Avenue A is not present.

... which proves my point completely. I use IE6 and like you, I don't have Avenue A and I've not "seen" any hits either. I don't use SpyBot and I don't exclude any sites. So I strongly suggest it is because of our browsing habits - or sheer luck - rather than anything at all to do with either browser.

[Rhys]

I came across an interesting site: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm. It's updated regularly and contains a list of all the sites that have spyware or tracking cookies. Once they're in your banned list, you won't get many more problems. Personally, I use the MSN and Yahoo toolbars as they have built-in popup and spyware blocking.