The controversy of SiteMeter installing ‘spyware cookies‘ on their user website’s visitors without any of their consent continues. Apparently, the SiteMeter Team posted a reply on the spyware allegations. Despite that, an individual suggested SiteMeter did not post any reply in their blog to prevent those who haven’t already know to get to know about it.
Check out this post to read what others think and feel about the whole spyware cookie episode.
The “spyware cookie” that is created on the user’s computer without their consent is named specificclick.net. Well, it is impossible to tell the whole world to stop using SiteMeter. However, what you can do is to protect yourself against it. It doesn’t matter if you do not have a blog or a website. As long as you have been surfing the Internet for the past 1 month, chances are your computer has already been infected.
What you need to do now is to check if your computer has already been infected. If it has, you will need to remove the cookie first. Then, you will need to block the cookie to prevent future infections. Michael Sync provided a detailed step-by-step instruction on how to remove specificclick.net and how to block it from future infections.
After you have finished all the steps, enter a website or a blog that has a SiteMeter counter in it. Check the cookies that was accepted in that session after the page has been fully loaded. If the specificclick.net cookie is no where to be seen, your ‘patch’ is successful.
Humans make mistakes. However, some mistakes can be avoided. SiteMeter sold out their users’ trust. Now, it is time to bare the consequences.
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Fuyoh I better fast fast remove sitemeter, any good stats counter to suggest?
Boss Lepton,
Either tried StatCounter or Reinvigorate. Both is a great stat tracker.
I’m using StatCounter and Google Analytics. I have never tried any others.
Yeah - def recommend statcounter.
I can’t use StatCounter because my traffic is over their free account limit, so I use GoStats, which seem to be pretty good.
Ah, yes. Forgotten to mention that StatCounter’s free service is limited to websites with less than 250,000 hits per month. That is a little over 8,000 hits per day.
Check this out for more information.
QUOTE:
“If the specificclick.net cookie is no where to be seen, your ‘patch’ is successful.”
the specificclick.net cookie refers to the number of counter shown in the blog? if we cannot see the number, means the spyware is blocked? … mmmmm.. …
thanks anyway for the info ..
@leeling
The cookie from specificclick.net DOES NOT track visitor count. It tracks your visitor’s (and yourself if you have the cookie) browsing activity. Click here for more information.
The cookie that tracks the visitors are from (eg.) sm8.sitemeter.com. Therefore, blocking the specificclick.net cookie does not interfere with the counter.
The spyware cookie is blocked when you don’t see the specificclick.net cookie, not the number on the counter.
Does the specic click info that is in the html code you put on your website prevent or add to the spyware??
@Susan
I didn’t put up any HTML codes in my post. The guide that is shown in the URL provided is to block your computer from accepting to cookie. So, it is to prevent.