GR, may I with some deference to your skill at SMS brevity and with absolutely no criticism of the content of your posts, suggest that you do not need to compose your submissions in such a way that they have to be read two or three times to discover the meaning of the content.

Ordinarily we all use plain language here.

73s, fob. :O

Mr fobotcso sir, your location speaks volumes! I must apologise in advance, for I am a recalcitrant, truculent, smart arse. I know and accept this, but just can't stop. Old dog/new tricks type scenario.

However you do fail to recognise the difference between SMS shorthand and AOL speak. Here is a link to a free translator, unfortunately it only goes from normal English to the rubbish I talk, and not the other way. It will provide you with a pertinent, and perspicacious insight as to what it all means.

click here

Try cutting and pasting your own post!

Ok, so I will make more effort to speak proper....

Back on subject, I have yet to investigate the immunize function on spybot. I must have a look. It must be noteworthy that AOL 8.0 has an ad blocker built in. Also check out pop up stopper. It's free, like all my favourite software.

The most annoying thing about these crappy tactics is that they exist because some people must be taken in by them.

NEway. i 4lmost m4d3 it thru 2 the end without resorting 2 sms brevity!

GR, Ta! What will they think of next?

I do SMS a fair bit, but have no experience of AOL; what is it, some kind of compiler? :D

He, he, he ....

No, fob.

AOL is a virus. A worm. A Trojan. A backdoor banger.

1T SuX

AA

I have been forwarded to this thread having posted a new and separate complaint about Avenue A in another place. I apologise that I do not follow the Computer/Internet Issues area normally, because PPRuNe is a way to get away from the bloody things.

I notice that the issue of SpyBot immunisation only raised its head towards the end of the discussion. I have used all the products mentioned...AdAware, ZoneAlarm, SpyBot....and, for me, SpyBot with immunisation enabled works best.

I have it set to tell me whenever it intercepts a known pest (this option can be switched off, but I like to know which sites have an ethos to infect me) and it pops up an Avenue A alert every time I move pages in PPRuNe.

Like everyone else, I can say that I have no connection with SpyBot, I simply think that it is excellent. It is free, but the authors suggest that you might like to make a donation if you appreciate the software.

I read Danny's outburst at the start of this thread and I must say that it has a touch of the Alastair Campbell's about it. There is no question that PPRuNe is resulting in Avenue A infection. This is either because:
a) It is deliberate and to PPRuNe's advantage
b) It is accidental and there is nothing PPRuNe can do about it
c) It is accidental and PPRuNe could stop it if it wanted.

Surely, at the very least, we should be told which of the above is the case, and Danny, who we know to be a moderate and reasonable person, can then explain why things must or should be left as they are.

That's certainly all I am asking for.

W

I have just done a brief test of my own, and it does seem to confirm that I am getting cookies from Avenue A and Valueclick from Pprune.

Started with a machine that was clean according to Spybot, went online through 56k modem, only to Pprune. Visited a few forum pages, closed down the link and ran spybot again.

Lo and behold, it found Valueclick and Avenue A had appeared.

Mind you, if you system is open to them you can probably get them (and a lot worse) from many many other sites other than Pprune.

Cheers

I am not quite sure how to take that.

Do you mean that it's my fault for leaving my system open? (actually, I am simply proving that my system is not open, which is why Avenue A is trapped every time I change pages.)

Or are you saying that because other sites are worse, it's OK for PPRuNe to be the way it is? (ie because there are domestic burglars, it's OK for me to nick a Mars Bar from Woollies)

Surely PPRuNe shows the very highest moral standards on almost every issue, so there is no comparison to Russian porn sites or MP3 rip sites where I would normally expect to see warnings?

W

WCollins, sorry, did not mean to phrase it as any critiscm of you. Just a general warning that general surfing on an open machine cam get people all sorts of nasties.

...and my apologies, on re-reading my response seems much more aggressive than I meant. The tone was supposed to be more a sort of muse than a rant ;)

W

StickyB, me too. I've read all this with some interest as I am theoretically behind two Firewalls. The first is (allegedly) included in the software of the D-Link ADSL Modem/Router and the second is ZoneAlarmPro.

When I accessed the Web "RAW", ie not through the Router, ZoneLarmPro would happily intercept over 500 attacks a day. Since changing my method of access to the Router on Broadband, ZoneAlarm has been silent!

So I've just got Spybot and tried to activate immunise but I've so far failed.

So, whenever I come to PPRuNe, I get Avenue A and Valuclick tracer cookies.

There's always something to keep us on our toes, is there not?