Martha's Web

For some nice screensavers without spyware included, look at this page, Make Windows Look the Way You Want on my site


Sneaky, Underhanded, Diabolical Spyware!

Love free screensavers? Download and install with extreme caution! Read on.
I love my eye candy! So I when I get a link for a nifty screensaver in one of the newsletters I receive, I just have to check it out. I am suspicious of screensavers to download since I had a previous experience that wasn't very nice, as documented on another page in my site, Really Mad. So I proceeded with caution. I expected to find spyware and I was right! I documented what I found with print screens as it is easier to explain visually. So here they are for you to view.

Freeze.com. If I were you, I wouldn't go there, but they do have some nice looking stuff advertised as 'free'. Don't believe it. There is a catch. Their logo says "Change Your Screen, Change Your World (Right, load up your computer with spyware!)

When you click to download the screensaver of your choice, you get the Register Page. So I registered. (I have a special profile for that) Then I downloaded the file. When I clicked to install the screensaver all of this stuff came up. I did print screens as I progressed. Notice I unchecked the boxes that were so nicely filled in for me!

There are two very small links at the bottom of the page, Privacy Policy | Affiliate Program

Privacy Policy takes you to a page that has no address at the top, so you don't really know where you are going. The Privacy policy is extremely long, and I suspect that is intentional so that folks will quit reading before they read it all (I suggest reading it all), the part I found most disturbing was the part that said:

'Freeze may request, but does not require, your credit card number and/or social security number, as well as personal interests in order to provide the Service. '

Excuse me? They may request your credit card number and/or social security number? For free products? I don't think so! Maybe if they are selling something, (which would probably come in a spam email), I could see the credit card number, but your social security number? I wasn't applying for a loan, just a free screensaver! Are they are ID stealers?

Just because someone asks you for this information doesn't mean you have to provide it, but just the fact that it is included in their Privacy Policy makes me extremely upset. So many unsuspecting users just blindly download, agree to everything and install programs.

After reading the privacy policy and getting to the page with the 'Offers', I decided I would pass on this screensaver. I have no doubt it is a nice one, but I can't afford this 'free' screensaver!

I really find it disturbing that I find ads for this particular site everywhere, in newsletters and on otherwise good websites. I have notified a few of them, but see no evidence that my notification has been of any use. Greed overcomes good more often than not, as these purveyors of spyware are being paid to advertise this ugly!