Bob writes:

"Can anyone please tell me what the advert.dll I found in Go!Zilla
and the windows system is used for?  Some say it may not be a good thing"

RESPONSE:

Here's a copy of an item in a recent issue of Fred Langa's newsletter:

"The Aureate Mess

Aureate Media makes tracking software that's embedded inside many
popular downloads and applications--- about 300 in all. With the rise
in internet security-consciousness (and the popularity of free
personal Firewalls such as ZoneAlarm from http://www.zonelabs.com )
people have started paying attention to previously hidden, back-
channel communication between their systems and distant web sites.

As it turns out, the Aureate software is a "phone home" application
that can (and does) send information about you and your system either
to Aureate or to the companies who have built Aureate's software into
their applications or downloads. But exactly *what* is sent and *how*
it's sent has been a source of great controversy.

Let's stop here for a sec: If you want to see if Aureate's "spyware"
resides on your system, search your system for "Advert.dll" which is
the central piece of the Aureate system (there are many other pieces
too, but this one's the biggie.) If you find Advert.dll, then Aureate
may have been spying on you.

Reader Rich Brennan was the first to wave the flag about Aureate to
me: He pointed me to
http://www.hardocp.com/news_images/2000/february_2000/aureatespying.html,
a page that has (in reverse order, with the older messages further
down the page) the original assertions against Aureate, and some
clarifying responses from an Aureate official. Many, many other
readers have written in too. (And thanks to all who did!)

CNET ran a more balanced story here:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1558696.html?tag=st.ne.1002

As the above links show, a number of somewhat wild claims have been
made about this "spying" including assertions that that the DLL sends
back a list of all software in your PC (lifted from the Registry), and
monitors all multimedia clips you run on your system. These wilder
claims appear to be false. See
http://www.kumite.com/myths/myths/myth036.htm for a thorough debunking
of the issue--- although I personally believe that the debunking goes
too far. Here's why:

The software *does* seem to be either poorly designed or implemented.
For example, uninstalling the applications that include the Aureate
spyware often does NOT remove the spyware itself, and the spyware
doesn't show up as a separate app, and has no uninstall available on
its own. Once you have it, you have it forever.

Plus, although Aureate intends the software to be used in an above-
board manner, many apps that install the software do so silently and
with no user notification whatsoever. Thus some user data (though
nothing like what the wild claims allege) can be sent without the
user's consent.

I'm personally inclined to see this as a consequence of less-than-
stellar competence rather than active evil intent on the part of
Aureate. But even if their hearts are pure, the end result is that
there's a fair chance you have software on your system you don't know
about, and that it may be communicating some information about you or
your system to others without your knowledge or consent. That's not
OK.

Reader "Darren" found a freeware app (from a known hacker!) that
purports to remove Aureate components:

     Further info on the Aureate Spy software (the software that
     installs .dll files on your computer which connect to
     Aureate when you go online and send worryingly comprehensive
     information about you): Help has come from an unlikely
     source - Cokebottle (a renowned software 'cracker') has
     developed a little utility to detect and remove Aureate Spy
     components. The file can be downloaded from:
     [log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]
     The utility is virus & trojan free, but you should always
     scan ANY file that you download from the internet - don't
     take anybody's word for it...

Thanks, Darren--- though I'd wonder about using a known hackers apps
in any case. <g>

A more familiar name--- Steve Gibson, of www.grc.com fame--- also has
weighed in on the matter at http://grc.com/aureate.htm, and has
promised a freeware fix of his own.

My take on all this is that the software is indeed poorly done and
badly used, and I'll use Steve's cleanup app when it becomes
available. Meanwhile, I've manually deleted Advert.dll from my system
(this rips the heart out of the Aureate system) and erased any
references to Aureate in my Registry (using Regedit.Exe). Finally,
with ZoneAlarm running, I can detect and block attempts by Aureate or
*any* "phone home" app.

In short: While there's something not right about the Aureate software
and the way it's been used, it's also fairly easy to shut it down. And
that's exactly what I recommend you do."
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