Warning!!! Read This!!!

[Blue]

Well,

We all thought MS was the only one low enough to use this tactic? WRONG! If you want to get really angry, read this:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=18027&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

You'll have to do some wading, but I'm sure that the deeper you wade the more angry you'll get.

:steaming: :steaming: :steaming: :steaming: :steaming:

Well, I'm off to write some REALLY NASTY emails...

[ihelpyou]

Yep. That is what I referred to here:
http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/t359/s024338c4469b8049854783f365493b9e.html

zula.com is the culprit.

[Lee]

Thanks for posting that link Blue. I just read all that .....this is unbelievable!! I hope something can be done about this. We all work so hard on our websites...and just to have these idiots send our traffic to our competitors is terrible!

Thanks for the enlightenment!

[ihelpyou]

yea, I called Zula the other day and left a nasty message. Maybe we should overload their email server and their phone line with many messages?

[Hope]

Ok folks, I am feeling left out again. (There seems to be a trend going on) I went to ezula.com to download this nasty bit of software. I wanted to see how badly my site was effected by this. This stuff doesn't work for me. I don't know why.

I am running a Pentium III 733, WinNT, IE 5.5. I also installed it on a Pentium III 733, Win98, IE 5.5. According to the site, it should work just fine. Nothing is happening though. I don't get the yellow underlines like I am suppose to.

I have been to pages that others say have been effected, yet I see nothing. I have looked at a ton of pages all over the internet and nothing. I went to sites that I knew would have keywords that should be effected, but again, nothing.

Am I that stupid that I can't install something that self installs? I am that blind that I can't see yellow underlines or highlights? Am I that lucky that this peice of crap doesn't work on my system? Yep, I am lucky, but I would still like to know how bad it is effecting my site.

Does anyone have any ideas why I am not able to use this crap, umm, errr, virus, no, no, no...errr, software?

[ihelpyou]

I do not know why you cannot see it. I am afraid to load the stuff on my puter.

I have heard that the MS meta tag will work for this as well. The tag is posted in these forums somewhere.

[Hope]

Could it be that I am behind a firewall? Could the firewall be blocking the communication between this app and the server feeding the information?

[ihelpyou]

hmmmm, I don't think so as all the software is loaded on your puter. Not sure about this though.

[Blue]

The MS Meta Tag will NOT work against this software. It had been tried by a few others elsewhere with negative results.

[Blue]

Hi Hope,

I too decided to test the waters (wanted to see what MY sites looked like under the TopText microscope). Well, I'm happy to report that, just like you, I couldn't get this software to work (it's being referred to "scumware ~ theiveware ~ scamware" ~ in other forums).

I don't know the reason for this. Maybe it's because we downloaded directly from the MFG's site (though why this would make a diff, I don't know)? I noticed that most others are downloading a program by Kazaa called Media Desktop 1.3.1 from CNET Downloads in which the TopText software is bundled (along with a bunch of other "spyware"). Maybe this is the difference...

Well, here's (http://www.whirlywiryweb.com/q/ezula.asp) a link to a site that has instructions for implementing a "Ezula Detection Script" as well as instructions on how to comPLETEly uninstall TopText.

[ihelpyou]

Nice link Blue! It is only a matter of time before someone comes up with a good tag or script that leaves ezula disabled when the visitor with it installed comes to your site.

[Blue]

Well,

After I followed the nifty instructions from the link I posted above, I did a "ezula" search on my hard drive and happily found nothing. :)

I don't know what made me do it, but after a short period of time had passed (and I had been doing some research online), I decided t odo another search.....and you guessed it....Ezula was back!!! Yeppers! It had completely re-installed itself!!! :mad:

I remembered that I had seen a reference to removing the Ezula crapware on the Lavasoft (http://www.lavasoftusa.com) site (they have an excellent "spyware detection and removal" program, both free and paid versions) by using their Ad-aware 5.5 program.

I was currently running an earlier version (and had run it after first deleting ezula) and it came up clean. Well after I upgraded to the latest version, and ran it, it found the dirty little bastage and removed it for me clean as a whistle.

And I am now happy to report that it has not reinstalled itself (and I've been checking it seems like every half hour)!!!:D

I reeeeeely hope this is the end of my dealings with this most underhanded company (aside from all the nasty emails I'm sending them :thebomb: ).