Scriv (and anyone else who is interested):-
I have mega protection against viruses, spyware, adware, hijacking etc etc. And I have it set up to tell me what goes on rather than just deal with it in the background.
There is no sign of any virus on the official site - certainly nothing that installs MSN Messenger in any language. HOWEVER, every time I visit the official site, my "dodgy download blocker" program warns me that it has intercepted an attempt to install something called "DoubleClick", which it describes as a "known threat" - not a virus (which is something that replicates itself &/or sends itself to all your friends &/or does nasty things to your computer) but spyware, which tracks your internet usage.
The very worst tracker programs can redirect you to pages that they claim would be of interest to you because of their analysis of your internet usage, whilst others may cause pop-ups to appear that you naturally assume are connected to the site you're visiting when in fact this is not the case. Others seem to be doing nothing more than "behind the scenes" market research, which nonetheless doesn't mean that you want it on your PC!
In the case of DoubleClick, my "dodgy download blocker" program's associated help states that it:-
"Uses information about your web surfing… that could include any information, like accounts and passwords".
DoubleClick's own privacy policy states that:-
"No personal information is used by DoubleClick to deliver Internet ads. DoubleClick does not use your name, address, email address, or phone number to deliver Internet ads. DoubleClick does use information about your browser and web surfing to determine which ads to show your browser".
Which seems pretty ambiguous to me (and pretty undesirable)!
Anyway, a good write-up on Doubleclick can be found at:-
http://www.pestpatrol.com/PestInfo/d/doubleclick.asp
This includes the fact that they can:-
"Tie cookie histories to personal identifying information, such as your phone number and address. In fact, a California woman sued DoubleClick for just that behavior".
Which doesn't quite fit in with their privacy policy, does it?
I have to wonder why this "threat" is on the official site, as I've never seen it anywhere else on the Net (and I have been known to visit some quite interesting sites over the years!
). BUT I have seen it on other clubs' sites run by the premium TV people, so it seems to be standard for them.
Hope this helps.
PS I strongly advise everyone to install something like PestPatrol to protect against these things. I especially recommend Spybot Search & Destroy, which is free and which you can get from download.com
