If that is your stance, then why are the following programs not on your Craptheque list?
Spyware Doctor - includes opt-out Google Toolbar
McAfee AntiVirus - includes out-out McAfee SiteAdvisor, which is the same as Web Security Guard.
LinkScanner Pro - same as Web Security Guard
You say we remove other toolbars. The only toolbars Spyware Terminator remove are bad ones...ones identified with displaying advertisements, stealing information, or selling your traffic data.
We do not remove any toolbar we deem safe - Google, Yahoo!, Ask.com, MSN, Windows Live, AOL, etc. They are not touched and they are not harmed.
We are not in the business of gaining competitive advantage through removal of other toolbars. I insist proof of this.
I believe toolbars are helpful in making your job of searching the web easier and using your computer in general.
Everyone I know uses toolbars. Internet Explorer 7 has a toolbar for searching, and the beloved Firefox has a toolbar for searching as well. Opera has it and so does Safari. The toolbars provided by the browsers are limited in their functionality and only provide searching. Our toolbar, like Google toolbar, or Yahoo! toolbar, or others, provides links to helpful resources like
http://www.archive.org, news outlets, and other features like RSS Feeding and integrating Mail Checker.
And, our toolbar provides searching through Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com. It is not singular with its search abilities.
I do not understand the word "fourguer". Google Translate does not like this word.
99% of net users might not be informed, but if they are using the internet, they sure can read, and if they read our download page they can find a version with Web Security Guard, and one
WITHOUT. And the one that includes Web Security Guard, a screen is clearly presented asking the user to opt-out of the toolbar. You may shun the "opt-out" (and not "opt-in") practice but it is used by many other programs, as mentioned above, and you dont seem to be looking down on those programs. I can present you with a LONG list of programs which make it "opt-out" for the bundled toolbar. If this is the sole reason for listing our software, then I demand you list all of the software I find.
Some software goes as far to add an opt-out install of Firefox + Google Toolbar for Firefox. You dont shun that???
If you shun toolbars and search engines, I wonder how you are able to get the information you need from the internet if you dont use them. I also wonder how much time you spend getting the information you need. I guess there are always the public libraries, which are free of search engines.
Information collected by search engines are 100% anonymous and they arent sold or used in any malicious ways. Crawler's privacy policy is similar, and probably more strict and secure than Google's, AOL's, Yahoo!'s, and Microsoft's.
I suggest you read the EULA, TOU and Privacy Policies of these search engines to understand what a search engine does. There is no dark mafia conglomerate associated with Search engines, I'm sorry to say.
Let me make this clear before I start the advertising discussion below: Crawler software does not show advertisements. The toolbar operates similar to all other toolbars in respect to advertising. Please consult the Privacy Policies for Google, AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, Crawler and a host of other search engines to understand what I speak of.
Anyway...
Is there a problem with internet advertising? I have purchased many useful products and services after being informed through internet advertisements.
If you think internet advertising is espionage, then you might as well turn off your television because the advertisements you see on your TV are determined by similar means. The television stations poll the audience and determine what the viewer wants to see and what they dont. When I watch the evening news program, I am presented with continuous advertisements for medicine for retiring adults. Why is this? Because the television networks
know, by what you call "espionage", that the majority of the TV audience are elderly or retiring.
We might as well also stop physical forms of advertising as well, based on your beliefs. Gas stations show advertisements of coffee in the morning, and sandwiches in the afternoon, and soup at night. Why? They know people want coffee on the way to work, a sandwich for lunch, and something hot for dinner...they know this through "espionage" as you put it.
Advertising is a way of life, a way to make money and it is present in every, I repeat, EVERY, form of media. Magazines, television, radio, internet, newspapers, sporting events, on the highways, etc. Advertising is the only way companies get their product name out there, it is the only way they make money. How do they maximize their money? They tailor the advertisements to their audience. They know what the audience wants and they show/play the advertisements that are the most useful. If you were to remove this "tailored" advertising, you might as well close the majority of businesses around the world.
Do I like advertising? No, not really, but I understand that it is the only way for most companies to make their money. Not necessarily to make money from showing the advertisements, but to get their name out there to make money on future purchases. I have since stopped using advertising blocking software because I know that websites need to make their money and with me, and hundreds of others blocking those advertisements I know that those sites will be closed in less than a few months...and I like those free services on the internet. I sure dont want to pay for them.
Look, I know you have a problem with toolbars, but it is no reason to misinterpret the privacy policies set forth by these search engines to determine them as "crap". You might as well have everyone turn off their computers if you want things the way you prefer.
And it is in no way presented as a REQUIRED installation. We do not say "Web Security Guard is required". We simply explain the product and provide the user the simple ability to avoid the installation of such. If they determine they want it, they install it. If they determine they dont want it, they dont install it.
If you have such a problem with us including an
optional product install (something McAfee, Spyware Doctor, and a host of others are guilty of) then you might as well just link everyone you know to our version WITHOUT included software which you can find in the middle of our download page
http://www.spywareterminator.com/dnl/landing.aspx, at this link:
http://www.spywareterminator.com/dnl/fi ... inator.exe.
TRUSTe being a "hoax" is your opinion - we do not believe it to be a hoax. We at Crawler take it VERY seriously and so does TRUSTe. There is no documented information as to whether they are a hoax or not, but all I know is that if our toolbar does certain "bad" things, like track user site habits like
Alexa toolbar, we will have certification revoked. Many companies use TRUSTe certification as a gauge as to whether to install certain software or not. You taking it to be a "hoax" is not a reason to throw it out the window and not use it in defense of Crawler Toolbar.
Our major Craptheque-type site in the Americas is SpywareWarrior -
http://www.spywarewarrior.com. Nowhere do they mention TRUSTe is a hoax. If you think TRUSTe is a hoax, then please contact them and take the issue up with them.
They may not be something French people use for certification of privacy policies, but we do, and we take it VERY seriously.
Spyware Terminator DOES NOT collect any information about your habits. I repeat, it DOES NOT.
If your problem lies with Crawler Toolbar, then it is NOT a reason to list Spyware Terminator. Spyware Terminator, independently, is a safe program and does not collect any information. I will need PROOF of this if you wish to continue to make these claims.
I am not sure what else to tell you. Your opinions on the internet and toolbars seem to be misguided and you are holding our software to a double standard by not questioning Spyware Doctor's motives for including Google Toolbar, McAfee on its motives with including SiteAdvisor, etc.
If you find the practice of bundling toolbars to be bad then i will provide you a list of software which does it and I will expect those items to be added to your crap list as well.