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NOTE: I am not stupid enough to install KaZaA on my computer, nor my notebooks. I have my relationship dealing with KaZaA because of my father's computer, and a test computer I wanted to see how much extra junk REALLY comes up on the computer, comparing a Ghost image of it before and after KaZaA was install.
Well, my dad's WinXP computer (always going down hill since he converted it from Win2K to WinXP while I was at work one day, and the reason a while ago I got the computer I currently use, and why I got a notebook long time ago) was screwing up, yet again. I'll explain a normal boot process of this computer: Turn computer on. Its fine in the startup of memory checking.
Screen goes to next display, where is shows the BIOS's table on top saying stuff about the drives connected, some basic hardware info etc. On this screen, half of the text will blink, and the computer pauses here for around 30 seconds to let you see it, though NOTHING on this screen shows any bad information, and the things that blink are normal.
Screen changes to next display, loading WinXP. It seems every day adds another second, and we've had that computer for a while now, so it loads on that screen for about 2 mins. Current startup time: 2:30.
Screen flickers a few times on the WinXP loading screen, and it then goes blank. Now, a purely random image appears. Usually its just black, sometimes its weird dots of colors, sometimes its a bunch of the same shade of colors, randomly spread around. This is very hard to explain, and you have to watch the computer restart a few times to understand that this is purely random, and no one I know of has this problem. (Note: this problem has always plagued this computer since my dad converted it to WinXP, and I have no idea how it happened like that. We even got a new monitor, video card, drivers, etc, still happens.)
Screen now moves to loading the main Administrator account, the one I used to use back when I was forced to using this one since we only had 4 computers at the time, and that one (minus my notebook) was the only one over 300mhz speed.
Goes to the desktop display, showing a whole bunch of links that are now invalid since I was never there to remove the links while they change programs on the computer constantly. KaZaA's media desktop thing shows, hogs up the screen, and doesn't let you touch the desktop icons while it is show. After about a minute of that (you can use Start button though), it goes away, and it finally lets the computer access other startup programs, such as the microsoft's forced AIM or whatever the hell it is called, which blows up saying a Dll that is there doesn't exist (i've removed that messager about 50 times now, but after 2 days, it somehow manages to get back on, though I think my dad/sister install yet another program from microsoft that re-installs it, but it constantly errors out and has yet not to).Its now done loading into the main account. Current time wasted: about 5 minutes if your lucky, some days goes upto 10 minutes. Now onto the real problem with the computer. My dad and sister, since they found out they can create their own accounts to hog up yet more resources on the computer only to show a different background image and taskbar color (every link on desktop and start menu the same), never use the main account. So they instantly go to Log Off User, and change to their accounts, usually before the main admin account finishes loading, which causes it to never finish loading (KaZaA for some reason will instantly loop forever when it isn't the main program loading at that time). So when they go to their accounts, it also attempts to load another KaZaA itself, locking up because for some reason, KaZaA feels it can only lock up resources for itself once per computer, not twice if loaded twice. So their accounts now prevent anything on desktop to be touched, if any windows do actually load, and they go away (ie: microsoft's messager's error), they stay on the screen still, or leave a white blob. You guys all know how this is at some point or another, the screen cannot refresh itself becomes some crappy program refuses to let window messages touch it. Well, after my dad/sister finally rebooting the computer 5 times straight in a row to come up with KaZaA sucking so bad, I suggested if you uninstall KaZaA, the problem might go away. So while they are waiting yet another 5-10 minutes for the computer to reboot, I figure I might as well look up all the junk KaZaA has loaded in it. I know of many sites that post all this junk, but I figured I wanted to see the wording KaZaA itself uses about itself. So, here are some nice stupid points they lie about (all taken from KaZaA's privacy policy): The software does not track user behavior outside of its own domain. We will always give you the opportunity to opt out of any bundled applications when you install the KMD. You will also be able to safely remove them at any other time. Me: KaZaA will not work without about 50% of its extra programs running. If you uninstall/delete any of those extras, it will say KaZaA cannot work since not everything is installed, and you have to reinstall to use it. Also, most of the bundles kazaa (fuck casing it correctly now) comes with do not have an uninstall method, minus you using an external install logger to see the 500 different places it puts dlls/exes under names so close to windows system names, you think it is required for windows to work. Extra bundles:
b3d Projector
We install Brilliant's b3d Projector with KaZaA to enable richer, more entertaining forms of advertising.
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Brilliant will help us show that ad-powered apps can be fun! HAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHA! Ad-powered apps that can be fun. Sure... I wanna see 90% ads, 5% wasted space, and 5% useful stuff. Brilliant Digital promises us that no personally identifiable information is collected when they whether or not an ad has been viewed. Oh yes, and I'm sure that those promises you get from your local congressmen are worth as much as a company that just wants to record information about you. Sounds like another company that will blow up like that other something-click website that stored so much extra info they got yelled at because they didn't say so in their privacy policy. I don't remember their name, but I know they are all over major websites, since their cookies has always been blocked by me. Can be easily removed? Yes. Can KaZaA work without it? No. Every bundle they say comes with it is exactly like this. Remove it, kazaa won't work. Keep it, you lose lots of memory/hd space/cpu usage/bandwidth. New.Net
What is it? We all know domain names that end with something like '.com'. New.Net allows web site to create sites at domain names like music.mp3 or clothes.shop. Check out some of the sites you will be able to view with this plugin: Sample. Ok, now, what is this bundle? That description tells you what New.Net is for, but nothing about their bundle. So in other words, it does nothing that has ANY good use for you. MediaLoads brings rich media content to you, directly to your hard drive Today, C: space free: 15 gig. Next week, C: space free: 50 meg. SaveNow downloads a small list of promotional websites to your computer. Atleast they are honest about loading their list of future pop-up ads to your hd, instead of skipping about saying it helps give you a good blah.mp3 website name. We also offer you the opportunity to add ... an icon for Bonzi Buddy inside the KMD. ... There is no software involved and no privacy implications. Look in your Add/Remove programs before/after kazaa installed. For some reason, it magically appears there. Well, for all you idiots that don't know how to delete a link (i never saw an option to not put that link on your desktop when installing it on test machine a few times), but somehow know how to go to Add/Remove programs, you can delete that link there! Just ignore that fact that link requires about 2 meg of harddrive space otherwhere on your computer, and that Add/Remove only removes 1.5 meg of it, though it DOES get rid of that icon that was 'optionally' placed on your desktop. Now parts from their own privacy policy about their own software they made: Information about users' visit to this site, such as number of times they have viewed an ad (but not user name, address, or other personal information) ... I've never heard of an ad company that doesn't store something that is sent to them. You click on their link, your cookies send them your information stored there from kazaa setting it up to share your information, yet they don't store it. Like me placing a $100 bill on the table in front of someone every 5 minutes, and they promise they won't take it, even if I never look, and just keep placing it there. Third Party Advertising
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This privacy statement ... does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers. What kazaa means: Oh yeah, that statement we said about saying they don't store your information? We don't actually mean it, since we don't cover what we said. So they are free to do what they want, and we don't care. Like most email newsletters you will receive ... Oh, so now we WILL receive it, even though they gave an option not to? So whats that option before saying we won't get newsletters? Just a pretty clickable thing to enterain the monkees that just install their program? Weeee !! Click click click! Please read the full Altnet Privacy Statement here. Click. "The page cannot be displayed." GG Service Announcements
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Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications. I've never knew 'generally' means 'always'. We share aggregated demographic information with our partners and advertisers. Such as the fact that out of the 1 peoples that connect from this 1 ip, their 1 email happens to be bob@aol.com. Thats some good aggregated demographics I bet they do. In the event Sharman Networks goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, users' personal information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. Hey, they are honest again atleast. "In most instances" my ass though, but they did tell you that your info you gave them MAY be giving to others you don't want to have it, though you have no control over it. We encourage our users to read the privacy statements of each and every Web site. ... just we don't want you to. Though we may use an intermediary to conduct these surveys or contests, they may not use users' personally identifiable information for any other purposes. Hmm.. you give them your name, shipping address, phone number, for a survey, and hope they don't use it for spam mail, etc. Sure. We take every reasonable precaution to protect the security of our users' information. ... unless it will make us $$$. Information is stored on secure, password protected servers ... the servers that store personally identifiable information are in a physically secure environment. Just don't try going on that computer in our main offices open to the public that says "private information about everyone, don't use, password isn't 'god'" and don't try the password 'god', because it says it isn't that. Users may gain access to personally identifiable information that Sharman Networks has collected about them by emailing us at privacy@sharmannetworks.com. I'm actually going to try this, see if they say they have anything about my dad's email address. "No, your not even on our list, those newsletters we send you arn't ours" or something lame like that they will respond with. Be funny if they actually send everything they have gotten about my dad's computer, probably be like 15 meg worth of junk. Ok, enough picking apart their pricy policy. Lets check out some of the links that have to the bundle software's policies. b3d Projector bundle Privacy Statement: We will not sell, share, or rent this information...
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We take every precaution to protect our users’ information.
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No personally identifiable information is stored by us, so no mechansisms for correcting personal information are required. Don't worry, we won't sell the info we have about you, even though we don't store it. If at any point we decide to collect or use personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify you by way of an email. Wait, I thought they don't store any personal information about me, so how will they contact me by email, since my email = personal. Atleast thats what everyone thinks. Muahaha, shows what you know. Personal information only means what color t-shirt you wore before you were born! Everything else is public knowledge, not your personal information. New.Net Privacy Policy: This required personally identifiable information ... we compile and maintain a publicly accessible domain name registration database, that includes basic information about each domain name registered with us, including the names, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. We may share ... information we collect or you provide with carefully selected business partners, including those who offer services that complement those provided by us or which we believe may be of interest to you. In other words, we'll store everything you give us, and share it with anyone who wants to know it. Just if someone wants your credit card #, we need $$$. This is so blunt saying that they will share everything to anyone, I don't even need to point out the rest of their stuff. Bah, I'm bored, and if you read this far, you know the point of this. Whenever you install kazaa (btw, if you read their end-user agreement policy there, you are required to take part in all this extra stuff, and you cannot opt-out of it, or kazaa will fail to install/load), you get extra junk that won't go away easily. Best option if you have kazaa already installed, and don't want to share more info (they won't delete what they already have, so your already screwed sort of) is just a format C:. |
and placed it in the grass near the bush. It broke my heart having to see the dead kitten and the other alive one wondering what is going on. I just home the other kitten stays alive. I did my part in moving the dead one off the road to keep the alive kitty off the road. *Note: First dead animal I have moved off the road, and I didnt even hit it* Well on a little better note, these are two images I thought were wonderful (out of many more) that I stole from a person off 
