November 2004 Newsletter
XP Service Pack 2 Rolls On
Keep Kids Safe from Spyware
Spyware bills die; FTC says “good riddance”
Top 25 Spyware and Adware
Join the PC Pitstop Folding or SETI Team
November 2004 Newsletter Read More »
October 2004 Newsletter
PC Pitstop Optimize – Our First Product
New Home for “The Pit”
What’s That Running Program? We Know!
The PC Pitstop Site Gets A New Look
Windows XP Service Pack 2: Do it Now!
Dell Recalls Millions of Power Supplies
Join the PC Pitstop Folding or SETI Team
October 2004 Newsletter Read More »
July 2004 Newsletter
PC Pitstop Test and Score Changes
Who’s Funding Claria/Gator? Yahoo!
Spyware Strikes Out with Major League Baseball
Windows XP Hits 70 Percent Mark
Beware of Fake Anti-Spyware Products
Be a PC Pitstop Beta Tester
Join the PC Pitstop Folding or SETI Team
July 2004 Newsletter Read More »
Yahoo and Claria
When Yahoo acquired Overture in September 2003, it may have bought itself a load of trouble.
Prior to the Yahoo acquisition, Overture had cut a deal with Gator (which has since changed its name to Claria Corporation) to display Overture pay-per-click advertising to users of the Gator Advertising Information Network (GAIN). As we’ve noted in earlier investigations, this deal took many Overture customers by surprise. When we contacted some Overture advertisers in September 2003, several were unaware that their ads were now being shown to Gator users and one indicated to us that they had discontinued their Overture advertising as a result.
Our Gator Experiences
What is it like to be a Gator user? We get plenty of reports in our forums, but we decided to get first-hand information by installing GAIN software on our own systems. We also wanted to find out if there are any good things about GAIN ads–do they have the potential to help users find great deals on products and services? The results weren’t pretty. Rob’s system became very unstable almost immediately. Dave didn’t have system instability, but received many GAIN ads that were anything but targeted.
Our Gator Experiences Read More »
How Did I Get Gator?
Our survey found that an astounding 74 percent of Gator users did not know that a Gator or GAIN application had been installed on their system, and an additional 15 percent had not read Gator’s license agreement. Compare those results to Gator’s assertion that users are “inviting” Gator onto their PC’s. We decided to take a look at several ways in which Gator gets “invited” onto a PC, and whether the process may be confusing users into making an uninformed choice.
How Did I Get Gator? Read More »
Claria Goes Public
June 3, 2004
Claria Corporation (formerly Gator Corporation) has filed an S-1 statement, the first step in the United States for an initial public offering (IPO) of stock. The S-1 is a very useful document because it requires the company to be very clear and honest about its business prospects. Potential investors use the S-1 to determine whether to buy stock, and to determine a fair price for that stock.
Claria Goes Public Read More »
May 2004 Newsletter
Special Report: The FTC Spyware Workshop
Continued Attacks Against Anti-Spyware Sites
Inadequate Disclosure by Claria/Gator and WhenU
Where’s Your Newsletter?
Solve Your PC Problems At The Pit
May 2004 Newsletter Read More »
Gator Alternatives
Are you using a Gator or GAIN-supported application and would like to keep its functionality but dump the popup ads, excessive memory use, and data collection? You’ve come to the right place. We’ve researched a collection of free or low-cost programs that are superior to Gator’s. For each Gator application below, you’ll see our picks for programs that offer similar functionality.
Gator Alternatives Read More »
Our Position
PC Pitstop is speaking out against Gator and similar products because we believe that most users do not benefit by having them installed. This is consistent with the basic tenets that drive both our business philosophy and the advice that we give to users.