Contageous sites?

Anders Brundell · Post by **Anders Brundell** » 9 Dec 2005 12:57 pm

Have someone ever had problems with tracking cookies or other parasites when surfing on COWPIE? AdAware warns for that site and that puzzles me somewhat.
I would rather suspect porn sites and their equals for spreading lice and not a country song lyrics site.
What are your experiences? Is this a false alarm or is there something to it?

Leon Grizzard · Post by **Leon Grizzard** » 9 Dec 2005 1:11 pm

Cowpie is notorious. There have been a few threads on the topic. The last time I went on Cowpie, I got a bunch of adware/spyware on my computer, and it was the devil to get it off.

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 9 Dec 2005 2:10 pm

Had the same problem with a drive-by download from lyrics.com a year ago. Scary stuff and time consuming to clean up.

Anders Brundell · Post by **Anders Brundell** » 10 Dec 2005 5:20 am

How come that a country lyrics site is full of malware? I can understand if porn site owners wants to parasite on their customers, but why on earth would country fans want to hurt each others? I can't understand the logic behind this.
What people are behind COWPIE? Can't someone talk it over with them?

Bobby D. Hunter · Post by **Bobby D. Hunter** » 10 Dec 2005 9:12 am

Cowpie and some other lyrics websites are subsidized by advertisers, some of whom use drive-by downloads and Internet Explorer exploits to install crapware onto the computers of anybody unlucky enough to visit those websites with an Internet Explorer browser that has not been totally locked down.

I strongly advise anybody who intends to browse lyrics websites to use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer!

You can get Firefox here: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
[This message was edited by Bobby D. Hunter on 10 December 2005 at 09:13 AM.]

Anders Brundell · Post by **Anders Brundell** » 10 Dec 2005 1:12 pm

Thanks, Bobby!

Now I've installed Firefox and lots of uppdates and plug-ins. I haven't surfed COWPIE yet but will later.
Is Firefox generally safer than Internet Explorer, or do the two programs have some strong and weak sides each?[This message was edited by Anders Brundell on 10 December 2005 at 01:16 PM.]

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 10 Dec 2005 4:24 pm

Anders;
Most of the current crop of drive-by downloads and browser exploits only work in Internet Explorer. Many of those are due to that browser's use of ActiveX controls and some Jscript programming deficiencies.

Firefox does not recognize ActiveX at all. Any program that wants to install as a plug-in or "extension" causes a warning browser bar to appear in the upper section of the browser. The default action is to block any download that installs anything into the Firefox browser, unless you click on the warning bar and allow that website to download and install software. Firefox's Javascript engine is state of the art and is updated regularly, as are fixes for bugs and exploits, as they are discovered.

Given the options and risks I have opted to use only Firefox to browse the 'Net. I now use Internet Explorer only to verify layouts when working on website designs and CSS layouts.

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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services

Don Walters · Post by **Don Walters** » 10 Dec 2005 5:45 pm

Given the options and risks I have opted to use only Firefox to browse the 'Net. I now use Internet Explorer only to verify layouts when working on website designs and CSS layouts.

Yes!

Anders Brundell · Post by **Anders Brundell** » 10 Dec 2005 10:21 pm

Thanks a lot for all advises!

Is there an update function somwhere for Firefox like http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/ (the link is not complete here; just meant as an example) for Explorer? I can't find any update link on the Firefox sites and don't want to miss that opportunity.

[This message was edited by Anders Brundell on 10 December 2005 at 10:24 PM.]

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 11 Dec 2005 10:28 am

Anders queried: <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>
Is there an update function somwhere for Firefox?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, Anders, there is a built in function in Firefox to search for updates.

In versions prior to 1.5 you would go to Tools > Options > Advanced and scroll down to find Search for Updates. Select updates for Firefox and Extensions and click the Check Now button.

Firefox 1.5 and later have a much simpler path to get updates. Go to Help > Check For Updates. It has an option available during installation to periodically check for updates, and you should enable it. Don't forget to educate your firewall that Firefox is a trusted application and allow it and it's updater to access the 'Net. Some firewalls will complain when you update the program version, so be prepared to acknowledge and permit the changed app to access the 'Net (as long as you know you just updated it!).

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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services

Anders Brundell · Post by **Anders Brundell** » 11 Dec 2005 1:34 pm

Thanks, Wiz!

I had already enabled auto updating but fogotten about it. I'm not good at handling computers and will never be - I'm simply too old. The neigbor's kids are lightyears ahead of me.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 11 Dec 2005 3:49 pm

I got some malware from COWPIE, so I advise everyone not to use it. Same thing with "Snopes". Along with urban legends, it downloads spyware to your computer.

Anymore, if I click a link, and nothing happens for 10 seconds (like...it's downloading something), I just shut off the modem. Then I restart the modem, open a new browser window, and search elsewhere.

Larry Lorows · Post by **Larry Lorows** » 12 Dec 2005 3:41 am

Donny, That sounds like a great idea to me. Thank you. Larry

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U12 Williams keyless 400
Evans SE 150, Nashville 112, Line 6 pod xt

Bryan Knox · Post by **Bryan Knox** » 12 Dec 2005 12:12 pm

I used to frequent Cowpie quite often. My Adware is not finding anything that they may have left on my box...should I investigate further, and if so, how.

FYI...I am running McAfee as well as Adware.

Thanks for your help,
Bryan

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 12 Dec 2005 6:32 pm

Bryan;
Even if Ad-Aware doesn't find anything don't relay on only one opinion. Get more tools to check for spyware, like these...

Spybot Search and Destroy and Microsoft AntiSpyware are both freeware, as is Spywareblaster. I use all three regularly and always install this trio on client machines when checking for and fighting off PC infections.

All three play well together.

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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services

Bryan Knox · Post by **Bryan Knox** » 12 Dec 2005 8:14 pm

Thanks Wiz

B.

Anders Brundell · Post by **Anders Brundell** » 13 Dec 2005 7:30 am

A given follow-up question got to be: Wich reasonably safe lyrics sites are there out there? Is COWPIE the biggest or are there other sites that can replace it one by one or together (maybe that's a new topic, BTW)?
Those of us who have other native languages than english needs those sites better than americans/englishmen, I guess.

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 13 Dec 2005 7:52 am

Mozilla Firefox was developed by a bunch of expert programmers who got tired of all the crap that Internet Explorer was letting into their computers. It is now a non-profit California company dedicated exclusively to solutions for that kind of problem.

Here's an excerpt from the July 15 announcement:

Mozilla.org’s flagship product, Mozilla, is rapidly emerging as the most widely acclaimed web browser, with PC World’s July issue honoring it as “Best of 2003” in its category, LinuxJournal Magazine giving it an “Editor’s Choice Award” for “Best Web Browser” (July issue) and eWeek raving that “eWEEK Labs found the new features in Mozilla 1.4 ... to be remarkable improvements that enhance what was already the best browser option out there.” (July 1). The Guardian recently predicted that mozilla.org's upcoming new products “could make Microsoft's offerings look very shabby indeed” (July 10).

Here's the link to Mozilla's Home Page. You will find interesting and informative information there.

Everyone should be using Mozilla Firefox as their web browser.

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Visit my Web Site at RoysFootprints.com
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[This message was edited by Roy Ayres on 13 December 2005 at 07:53 AM.]