The following is from Milly's Web site (link below): "The issue is the
'Related Links' feature of IE (pre-XP SP2) which appears as the
'Tools'/'Show Related Links' menu item (and a corresponding toolbar button
if you added it from the 'Customize...' link on the toolbar)." The 'bottom
line' appears to be "use at your own risk".
Is Alexa spyware?:
http://www.imilly.com/alexa.htm
More alarming is the bug in IE concerning the transmission of sensitive
information as described in this Secunia article.
Secunia - Advisories - Internet Explorer Exposes Sensitive Information:
http://secunia.com/advisories/8955/
This vulnerability has been fixed in Windows XP SP2 along with the
elimination of the 'Related Links' feature. A manual fix is also provided at
Milly's site.
Sven Swanson, Sr.
----- Original Message -----
From: Venkat Viswanathan
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 9:47 AM
Subject: [PCSOFT] Alexa
I shall appreciate if any of the members guide me :--
(1) is the subject software a spy ware?
(2) I am seeking this info because i recently downloaded the trialware of a
utility called "tuneup utilities 2004" about which i came to know from c/net
newsletter and it does seem to have a comprehensive menu
(3) on a run with this and under a menu called "system advisor" it indicates
" the Alexa software which is included with IE-6.0 collects info on surfing
habits and sends the info to manufacturer to facilitate related links
service"
and gives me an option to "deactivate"
(4) I ran a "FIND FILES/FOLDERS" and it showed 2 zip files and one
temp.internet file named Alexa.
(5) the 2 zipfiles are in windows/application data/spybot
search&destroy/recovery
and the third one in temp.internet file folders ( I do have spybot search&
destroy installed)
(6)I also found one file named alexa in windows/web (folder)
(7) but during regular runs of spybot it has never shown alexa in it's list
In short would it be safe to deactivate it? I do not seem to have any system
problems so far--- touch wood
thanks for your help and have a very good day---Venkat Viswanathan
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