This sucks, I can't post helpful URL's yet! Let's try something else...
I've been lurking around here for some time but never registered. But this thread got my full attention. I've been fighting spyware online for about 5 years now. It rips me off every day both in the mainstream and adult industries.
Ben from MoreNiche posted some good info. WTG Ben!
There are people out there who can test your programs (sponsors) or sites (affiliates) for a fee. You can visit
affiliatefairplay dot com for more info. The owner of that site has been testing spyware for merchants and large networks (CJ, BF, LS and others) for years to help them catch rule breakers and cheaters.
She just started offering a service to the adult industry (and mainstream) to provide information on who/what is cheating your program or popping up on your site(s). You can also contract her to monitor your site for spyware activities. She's quite affordable. The service is available to affiliates, sponsors and networks.
And then there's Ben Edelman who is quite an expert in this field too but a lot more expensive. Ben has served as an expert witness in court in cases against spyware. Not sure who posted his URL, but I'll post it again
benedelman dot org
There are MORE than 400 spyware programs in existence today. It's impossible to keep track of them all on your own.
I believe in exposing the scum affiliates AND scum sponsors publicly who allow this in their program to rip us off. When I find a program that doesn't do anything about it, ignores my emails on the subject, or replies that they don't care, I delete them from my sites.
Just a few days ago, I was clicking on Total Access Porn from Dollar Machine. I immediately got an enormous amount of popups, one of them for zangocash. My firewall blocked access to the site and didn't allow the popup to be displayed. I sent them an email about this to which I still need to receive a reply. I give them until the end of the week to answer and then all their links will be deleted from my site and I will tell my visitors WHY.
What they don't get is that spyware rips THEM off too because it's the URL that triggers the popup, not the affiliate site.
For example: the targeted URL via zango is couplesseduceteens.com (just an example because I read here that TB doesn't allow spyware).
So if a visitor remembers the URL and returns to the site on his own and types it in directly, even after clearing cookies, zango WILL pop up again and the sponsor now has to pay a commission to a direct sale that should have been NON commissionable. So sponsors get ripped off as much as we do, especially if they have URL's easy to remember for surfers. They just don't have a clue.
Another program,
siteadvisor dot com - now owned by McAfee, is a good one to have and it's free. Altough I don't find it 100% accurate and their spamming comments are way off board at times, it sure gives you a good idea of which sites are clean and which ones are not. It saved me a few times!
We all need to educate sponsors we work with on this issue. Many programs don't shave, you're just being ripped off by spyware.
I offer several options on all my sites for spyware blockers and spyware removal tools.
Missie