Following our ZoneAlarm Firewall Configuration Guide we now have a little tweak for all of you that want to get rid of a hidden spyware that is introduced to your system by M$ Internet Explorer. Want to learn more? Click Read More...
What is the issue we are talking about? Internet Explorer has an implemented feature in newer versions (since 5.0 and up), with which related pages can be displayed to the current. This function is implemented over the software Alexa. Most do not know however that this service constantly monitors the users steps through the internet. In internal message Alexa catches up information over the Websites and web pages visited by you. Alexa records the following information among other things: The full URL of the web page for which you requested the Related Links information.
Your IP address, which may include a domain name.
The date and time of your request Computer and connection information such as browser type and version, operating system, and platform. This information is stored in the same logs as the usage paths. All of the above information is logged together in a single data string for each web page you visit. They do not transmit cookies to your computer when you use this Internet Explorer feature, but hell is there anything they don't log?
And furthermore, how can you be sure that this feature is not turned on by default behind your back? Even more interesting is the following: They track you even when you visit their website @ www.alexa.com! I won't post a hyperlink here for obvious reason. How to get rid of Alexa! You can switch Alexa via the registry. Under
H-KeyLocalMachine/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Extensions/(c95fe080 8f5d 11d2 a20b 00aa003c157a)
one deletes this key with all sub entries! A very good tool to check whether Alexa is installed or not and to delete it is AdAware 5.6 (local download available) by Lavasoft. This was brought to our attention by Wintotal, a german Windows site. We used their post by permission for this guide! Thanks again, dudes.
What is the issue we are talking about? Internet Explorer has an implemented feature in newer versions (since 5.0 and up), with which related pages can be displayed to the current. This function is implemented over the software Alexa. Most do not know however that this service constantly monitors the users steps through the internet. In internal message Alexa catches up information over the Websites and web pages visited by you. Alexa records the following information among other things: The full URL of the web page for which you requested the Related Links information.
Your IP address, which may include a domain name.
The date and time of your request Computer and connection information such as browser type and version, operating system, and platform. This information is stored in the same logs as the usage paths. All of the above information is logged together in a single data string for each web page you visit. They do not transmit cookies to your computer when you use this Internet Explorer feature, but hell is there anything they don't log?
And furthermore, how can you be sure that this feature is not turned on by default behind your back? Even more interesting is the following: They track you even when you visit their website @ www.alexa.com! I won't post a hyperlink here for obvious reason. How to get rid of Alexa! You can switch Alexa via the registry. Under
H-KeyLocalMachine/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Extensions/(c95fe080 8f5d 11d2 a20b 00aa003c157a)
one deletes this key with all sub entries! A very good tool to check whether Alexa is installed or not and to delete it is AdAware 5.6 (local download available) by Lavasoft. This was brought to our attention by Wintotal, a german Windows site. We used their post by permission for this guide! Thanks again, dudes.
