Shoutbox

when i went to the site using a link from msg plus and it said that Smiley central doesnt have spyware.. But many people say it does.. Which one is it.. Thanks

I think it contains Adware.. not sure about Spyware though..

it installs a mywebsearch bar ans something else. i'm not quite sure though. all i know is when i saw my sister installed it it was gone in 5 minutes

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Originally posted by lizard.boy
it installs a mywebsearch bar ans something else. i'm not quite sure though. all i know is when i saw my sister installed it it was gone in 5 minutes

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Smart move... I hate it when family installs stuff on your computer, they dont even know what they are doing. 

Well if this has spyware (or even adware), I'm not going to install it, it would turn out to be more of a pain then anything else. 

unless it is optional

If it was optional then I'd install it, because I love the cursors that are on it... Can anyone please post more information about it?

i used it for a while when i was still a n00b at computers. it's quite nice but the adware can be quite agressive

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Originally posted by traxor
... Can anyone please post more information about it?

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Yes it does contain ad-ware. It adds a toolbar to IE and opens some popups when visiting normal internet pages. My little brother once installed it...

on the Smiley Central site it says:

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What is this toolbar on my browser for?

Internet Explorer/MSN ISP Browser/AOL ISP Browser users: Your toolbar attaches to your browser and provides one-click access to Smiley Central and other cool tools, plus your favorite search providers - including Google, AltaVista, Ask Jeeves, AlltheWeb and LookSmart! Just enter a search term into the blank search field and click any search provider button to get instant results from the Web's leading search engines!

Please note: Your toolbar includes NO spyware and NO adware, and is 100% FREE.

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The toolbar ITSELF is no adware... but smilie central do installs adware

On another site it says:

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Smiley Central is an Internet Explorer plugin that allows you to add numerous smiley faces to your email or instant messages. It is part of the Fun Web Products suite of utilities such as Cursor Mania, My Mail Stationary, My Mail Signature, PopSwatter, Popular Screensavers, and the My Way website portal.

Although none of these products claim to be spyware, they do slow your computer down. All of the products use cookies to track usage, although they claim not to use cookies or anything else to track personally identifiable information. That being said, I would still recommend uninstalling the SmileyCentral software and other Fun Web Products if you feel your computer runs better without them. They are found by many spyware removal tools such as Spybot Search and Destroy, Lavasoft Ad-Aware

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Conclusion: just don't use it

From what I remember, you can install Smiley Central, use Ad-aware to get rid of the annoying crap, and still keep it's features...though don't quote me on that. Oh and using Ad-aware SE to get rid of the annoying crap won't work...you have to use the original Ad-aware.

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Originally posted by JaymachRalTir
Oh and using Ad-aware SE to get rid of the annoying crap won't work...you have to use the original Ad-aware.

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That's just rediculous.... the new Ad-Aware SE uses an IMPROVED version of the engine of Ad-Aware 6. SE is better then 6. Not worse...