Alexa toolbar. Spyware?

Dominicc2003

Oct 26th 2006, 6:46 am

Hi,
I read that a while ago the alexa toolbar was very annoying and contained software that was basically like spyware.
Is the toolbar still like this?

Dom

kevinn

Oct 26th 2006, 9:49 am

Yeah, I downloaded the toolbar, ran adaware and it removed alexa completely.

Dominicc2003

Oct 26th 2006, 10:03 am

lol.
But apparently it doesn't have spyware on anymore. Is this true or not?

invincible.vib

Oct 26th 2006, 10:07 am

yep..it don't have any spyware...im using it from about 15-20 days...

and it helps a lot in boosting your alexa rankings:)

Dominicc2003

Oct 26th 2006, 10:10 am

does anyone have a 3rd party download link for the new alexa toolbar?
The link to it on alexa.com isn't working... :(

KLB

Oct 26th 2006, 10:12 am

Technically Alexa in and of itself is spyware because it reports your surfing habits back to a central database that then compiles that information. Google's Toolbar is no different. The difference between these two plugins and bad spyware is that they are voluntary downloads and CLEARLY disclose what they do.

I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of a toolbar plug-in reporting all of my surfing habits to a third-party. Then again, cookies aren't much better except that they can be deleted on a regular basis.

invincible.vib

Oct 26th 2006, 10:22 am

well i don't know why ppl don't like this idea...they all gater ppl's surfing habbits to improve thier search engines.
Alexa gathers users data and make the stats availabe to users...

And why just google toolbar....if you don't like this idea you shouldn't use google search engine....

Google use to store a key like a0e92319021ad3 (this is my computer's ID according to google). And they keep track of your searches based on these key...and they are not normal cookies. Even if you del the cookies they will be there in your system.

And if you had downloaded firefox+google toolabar from adsense ads then you should know that google stores a key in users registery to track who has downloaded that firefox earlier.

But google uses these data to make their search engine better....and thats the reason behind their sucess of searchengine and more imp Adsense/Adwords.

KLB

Oct 26th 2006, 10:31 am

well i don't know why ppl don't like this idea...they all gater ppl's surfing habbits to improve thier search engines.
Alexa gathers users data and make the stats availabe to users...

Oh I don't know, maybe AOL's massive search data leak maybe?

trichnosis

Oct 26th 2006, 10:45 am

Technically Alexa in and of itself is spyware because it reports your surfing habits back to a central database that then compiles that information. Google's Toolbar is no different. The difference between these two plugins and bad spyware is that they are voluntary downloads and CLEARLY disclose what they do.

I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of a toolbar plug-in reporting all of my surfing habits to a third-party. Then again, cookies aren't much better except that they can be deleted on a regular basis.

this is the rigth answer:). with only one word Alexa is a spyware.

Tugeza

Oct 26th 2006, 10:58 am

No doubts Alexa is a spyware, it works not for Firefox and its results are so evasive - I just can't stop wondering this tool. By the way I read that if you are using Alexa toolbar browsing your own sites - very good for your ranking with Alexa. Checked. Works!:D

Lee Rees

Oct 27th 2006, 1:30 pm

No doubts Alexa is a spyware, it works not for Firefox and its results are so evasive - I just can't stop wondering this tool. By the way I read that if you are using Alexa toolbar browsing your own sites - very good for your ranking with Alexa. Checked. Works!:D

so what if someone was to browse there own site all night long, what if someone and 50 of there bots was to spend the whole week pressing f5, then what?

almir

Oct 28th 2006, 4:46 pm

so what if someone was to browse there own site all night long, what if someone and 50 of there bots was to spend the whole week pressing f5, then what?

Then nothing...:D

One DP member made an experimrnt with that, and nothing happened. It seems that refreshing doesnt help..:p

But I am not sure why would anyone do that, there is no advantage in having good alexa rank

jquindlen

Oct 28th 2006, 5:18 pm

But I am not sure why would anyone do that, there is no advantage in having good alexa rank

No dramatic advantage, however having a decent Alexa ranking shows that your site is established and can help if you ever try and sell your site.