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Xupiter! Or what used to be Xupiter. In it's time it really wreaked havoc. Although going to their home page says they are out of business, ths link on their site shows that they may be up to something else soon

You can share some of the love for the Yomtobians here. These guys are right up there with Spamford Wallace and the Cantor/Siegel in the Internet Hall of Shame.

Xupiter! Or what used to be Xupiter. In it's time it really wreaked havoc. Although going to their home page says they are out of business, ths link on their site shows that they may be up to something else soon

You can share some of the love for the Yomtobians here. These guys are right up there with Spamford Wallace and the Cantor/Siegel in the Internet Hall of Shame.

A quote from both:

• How did [Browserwise.com/Xupiter.com] become my search engine?

  You could have downloaded and installed one of our many software applications. In the terms and conditions of any of our software products it is clearly stated that we grant you a free license to use the software and by installing the software on your computer you agree to use our search services in your web browser. Any and all changes made to your system are clearly stated in the terms and conditions.

Any questions?

Run the uninstall here

Perhaps you should read the Xupiter PRIVACY STATEMENT. It says stuff like:

Conflicts may occur with other software applications that may already be installed on your computer. Xupiter will report back to our servers what applications may be running on your system and will resolve these conflicts whenever possible.

So, they just write it to accidently have conflicts, and viola, they can see all the programs your running... Also...

By installing, using, or copying Xupiter you acknowledge that you have read, understood, given your informed consent to, and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is subject to change by Xupiter at any time. Notice to members shall be made by adding any changes to this Privacy Policy document, which will remain posted at the Web site. Members agree to review this Privacy Policy from time to time for changes and updates. Notice of any revisions to this Privacy Policy shall be considered effective when transmitted to the Xupiter servers.

also:

You acknowledge that Xupiter or parties appointed by Xupiter may from time to time provide programming fixes, updates and upgrades to you, including automatic updates to Xupiter, through automatic electronic dissemination and other means.

hmmm... So.. technically....

if (users.count() > 10000){
update_webpage("Users agree to allow full access of their machines to Xupiter. Users also agree to allow Xupiter to share their information gathered with any of our affiliates.");
auto_update_software(GET_ALL_INFO) ;
start_proess(SHARE_INFO);
}

Looks like there's always a way. While I'm sure this falls in very shady areas concerning legality and stuff... it does make you wonder. And with all the awful legal calls made these days, they just might get away with it.

If you want to send any notes to help@xupiter.com, you can always use an anonymous remailer:

Remailer

That's help@xupiter.com

to their credit, Xupiter's search engine returns the best quality squirrel porn I've ever seen. If you're going to make a comment like that, at least include a link!!

How to remove Xupiter.

I like the fact that the Xupiter site can be used to find anti-Xupiter pages.

Click Here to uninstall the application.

why they cant put an entry in add/remove control is beyond me... oh, I forgot, this is a sypware/trojan/worm/virus, it dosnt like to be uninstalled.

Everyone has already mentioned the altered home page, etc, but here's some more fun:

From their EULA:

2. Use of the Software.
You acknowledge and agree that you shall not... (b) attempt to disable the Licensed Software by any means or in any manner...

Also, Active desktop panel will be installed on the users desktop which will enable active desktops on the system for special promotions.

So, it seems they have a self-contradictory EULA. Section 15 gives an uninstall link, but that seems to conflict with section 2's prohibition on disabling the software. So what exactly does the uninstall utility do? It's an extra download too. Why can't it just be removed with Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel?

And most annoyingly, they seem to have the ability to set your desktop background to some ad...

From their FAQ:

In the terms and conditions of any of our software products it is clearly stated that we grant you a free license to use the software and by installing the software on your computer you agree to use our search services in your web browser.

We're all one big happy family, aren't we?

Weeeeelll... from their T&Cs...

We do not transmit or collect your browsing activity and do not store any information that records your browsing behavior. We only collect aggregate statistics about the URLs and search terms you enter. We do not build profiles of our users or attempt to correlate demographic or personal information.

Not that I'd necessarily trust them. But aren't these things supposed to be somewhat legally enforceable?

I work for a fairly large tech support / helpdesk outsourcing company. Programs like this are de facto viruses from the point of view of the end user. 90% of the ones that I talk to have no idea what this is or how it works, and no idea how it got installed. I remember talking to this one person who'd had Xupiter installed and their story was "Well we clicked Yes by mistake once...."

I find it hard to believe that it would install itself with everything set to default on a properly updated copy of IE 6.0 SP1. It's much more likely that Xupiter is just betting on people clicking yes to the security warning prompt.

Taken from Xupiter's end user agreement: To further enhance your media viewing experience, Xupiter reserves the right to run advertisements and promotions based on URLs and/or search terms users enter when navigating the Internet. Other enhancements and to allow access, users web browser, start page, search page, auto search option, bookmarks and default error page will be changed, along with the Xupiter accessory toolbar added to the web browser. Active desktop panel will be installed on the users desktop which will enable active desktops on the system for special promotions. Our software license requires that users browser start page be set to Xupiter.com in order to continue use of the Xupiter toolbar, from time to time we verify that users start page url is set to Xupiter.com, if it is not we reserve the right to alter it back.

Great - it enables active desktop too; what fun!

Yes, this is a tricky bugger to remove, unless you find the uninstall. Not documented, but thanks to some nice folks in the forum, here it is:

http://www.xupiter.com/uninstall/

***//MESSAGE TERMINATED//INSERTING REPLACEMENT//***

XUPITER IS GREAT! EVERYONE NEEDS XUPITER! IT CAN TYPE FOR YOU! WHY DON'T YOU INSTALL XUPITER NOW?
Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter Xupiter