ZUL W3C COMPLIANCE NUKE - ALEXA Toolbar Experience

Since I’m already an Amazon.com affiliate, I thought this sounded like a good deal, so I downloaded the toolbar and was planning to add it to my site when, all of a sudden, I began to have serious problems with Internet Explorer.

Every time I had more than one browser window open and tried to close it, IE would lock up, often making it impossible for me to exit other programs as well. I kept getting messages that my system resources were too low to open a program--something I''''ve never had a problem with before.

And, in most cases, I couldn’t reboot or shut down and was forced, several times, to just press the shut-off button. After doing all the usual things, such as defragging, checking for viruses, cleaning out old temporary files, dumping cookies, etc., I called the computer supplier for assistance. As usual, their pat answer was, "You’ll have to reformat your hard drive and reload Internet Explorer." I told them they might as well stick a knife in my heart because I didn’t have the time or energy to do this now.

After downloading the free Opera browser so I could continue my work on the Web (not a bad browser), I began googling. I then download the free Advanced WindowsCare Personal v2.30, an anti-spyware program that scans one’s hard drive system for files, cookies, and other spyware that may have been planted while surfing the Web or downloading files.

It provides a list and gives the user the option of removing some or all of them with a click or two. Until I ran the first Ad-Aware scan on my computer and turned up 150 "objects" that had been planted there in the three months I’ve been on the Web with this computer, it didn’t dawn on me that my problems with Internet Explorer had begun only after I had downloaded the Alexa toolbar. Alexa describes itself as a free search and navigation companion that accompanies you as you surf, providing useful information about the sites you visit without interrupting your Web browsing. Since it implants itself on the Internet Explorer toolbar, you’d think it would work okay with this browser, but in my case it caused serious problems. Of the 150 objects discovered by the Ad- Aware scan, 46 were Rootkey files planted in my Registry by Alexa--and all of these "files" were transmitting data back to Alexa about my Web-surfing habits.

Alexa describes itself as a free search and navigation companion that accompanies you as you surf, providing useful information about the sites you visit without interrupting your Web browsing. Since it implants itself on the Internet Explorer toolbar, you’d think it would work okay with this browser, but in my case it caused serious problems. Of the 150 objects discovered by the Ad- Aware scan, 46 were Rootkey files planted in my Registry by Alexa--and all of these "files" were transmitting data back to Alexa about my Web-surfing habits.

Curiously, when I had tried earlier to remove the Alexa program from my system using the add/removal tool in my control panel, I got a message saying a certain file couldn’t be found, so I couldn’t delete the program. But the program finally disappeared from view after Ad-Aware removed all the Alexa-planted Rootkey files from my registry, along with all the other unwanted spyware files and cookies planted there by others. I’ve had no Internet Explorer problems since.