At 03:17 PM 05/31/2000, Mike & Ginger Woodcock wrote: *************START OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT************* At 01:03 AM 5/31/00 -0500, you wrote: George, I think it would be of interest to note that the CuteFTP was listed as one of the programs that had Aureate included.....WS_FTP was not.... Mari Ok, here we go again with the Aureate thing.. I don't quite understand it.. but this catches my eye and I want to understand ALL about it now.. you see I use CuteFTP..... g **************END OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT************** For those that missed the first go round about Aureate, here it is briefly. Aureate is a company that gathers computer user information and evidently sells it to companies to help them target potential customers of their products. To help gather the information, Aureate made a program that, when installed, secretly gathers information from a user's computer system. Then, at various times, while the user's modem is connected to the Internet, the Aureate program sends this information back to the Aureate server, all secretly, and unseen by the user. Here's the rub. Aureate made deals with hundreds of software producers to include the Aureate program in the installation programs of the other software producers. So, when you install, as an example, CuteFTP, the Aureate program is ALSO installed, but you don't know it, because it is "stealthed", that is, hidden from view. According to Aureate, they collect no PERSONAL information, such as name, email address, or other data; but, they DO collect demographic data on sites the user has visited, how often, etc., plus what kinds of items the user has purchased over the Web/Net. Getting rid of Aureate is very easy - just download and install OptOut. It will remove all Aureate files from the system. SgtGeorge