On Wednesday 04 February 2009 16:57:06 editor@pyroport.com wrote: > I think you need to make the distinction between malicious spyware, say a > trojan that gathers data and returns it to a company who then sell it on > and software like Google's toolbar which by definition is spyware however > it is far from malicious I thought I had made that distinction, however if it wasn't clear enough then I apologise. I'd be more cautious about throwing in Trojans with spyware, they are similar but distinct categories of applications. I'm willing to acknowledge that there are two ends to the spectrum, from the out and out criminals through to the Googles of the world, who aren't quite whiter than white, but enjoy the lighter shades of grey. Whether any firms intentions can be so easily defined as malicious or not is fairly subjective. What sets apart a firm that merely sells on the data gathered to advertisers from Google who collect the data for their own advertising? Whether you consider the actions to be malicious depends entirely on your perspective - do you trust Google with that information? Is the difference that at least you know _where_ that information is going? Ultimately these are the questions that really matter and if you accept the terms by which the Google and their toolbar operate, then go ahead and use it. All I have tried to do is allow people to make up their own minds, to make informed decisions. On the flipside I'm sure there is much to recommend about Google toolbar or the other Google products. If you'd like an alternative to Google Toolbar, then Firefox or Opera are worth checking out. They do many of the same things, in particular the one which sparked this whole topic, the inline searching and highlighting of search terms. Both browser also have the advantage of being less frequent victims of exploits than IE, though don't be lulled into a false sense of security. I think I've said all I have to say on this subject and I can be quite certain that many list users are sick of the OT chat already, so I'll resist from further replies. -- Stuart Morgan