Morpheus

Morpheus is a peer to peer client for downloading files such as songs, movies and software. Upon running the installer for this software the first screen made it very obvious of what it was going to do. Straight out they asked whether I wanted the ad supported version or the paid version, the free version obviously being the version with the adware.

How people do not notice this; I am not sure, but it does happen. Perhaps people believe that it only has in-program banners? Anyway, If I had installed the ad-supported version I would have gotten the Adware “Huntbar Toolbar”, “NEO Toolbar” and “PIB Toolbar”.

Precision Time
This little piece of software is designed to keep your computers clock time correct by frequently checking it against a central time server. This one was very direct pointing out that it was going to install Adware AND Spyware saying “As you surf the Web, you will occasionally see GAIN branded ads (pop-ups and others) selected based, in part, on the webpages that you view”.

There are two important lines in this paragraph, “occasionally seen GAIN branded ads (pop-ups and others)” which means that they are going to install adware, and “based, in part, on the webpages that you view” meaning they are tracking the webpages that you visit and send related ads accordingly, this is known as Spyware. On to the next page.

The next page contains the a License agreement that most peope just click “I have read and accept these agreements” and press Next (including myself at times). Program installers typically use this area for the usual legal mumbo-jumbo however Gator uses it to further inform you that they are going to spy on you and then send you ads based on the information they collected. Had I installed this I would have gotten the Adware/Spyware named Adware.GAIN.