Al Bundy wrote:
> Being pretty much new to the spyware and this APS newsgroup, I'm
> really unsure. Not sure if it's OK to post these option setting Q's
> here but.....appreciate any replies/advice.
>
> GOOGLE OPTIONS TABS
>
> OPTIONS:
>
> Searching
> Open new window to display ...
> X Drop down search history
> X Highlight button
> X Word-find buttons
>
> Page Information
>
> PageRank PageRank display
> i Page Info menu
>
> Accessories
>
> X Popup Blocker
> AutoFill Button
> Blog This!
> X News button
>
> Configuration
>
> Options button
>
>
> MORE:
> (everything unchecked except)
>
> X Automatically search when you select from the search history
> X Use Google as my default search engine in Internet Explorer
> X Selective text only
> X Automatically highlight fields that AutoFill can fill
> X Play a sound when blocking popups
>
>
> AutoFill
>
> Everything is empty
>
>
>
>
> The stuff in Hijack this that appears to be google related is:
>
> O2 - BHO: (no name) - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} -
> c:\program files\google\googletoolbar1.dll
>
> O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - c:
> \program files\google\googletoolbar1.dll
>
> O8 - Extra context menu item: &Google Search - res://C:\Program Files
> \Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmsearch.html
>
> O8 - Extra context menu item: Backward &Links - res://C:\Program Files
> \Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmbacklinks.html
>
> O8 - Extra context menu item: Cac&hed Snapshot of Page -
> res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmcache.html
>
> O8 - Extra context menu item: Si&milar Pages - res://C:\Program Files
> \Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmsimilar.html
>
> O8 - Extra context menu item: Translate into English -
> res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmtrans.html

Read Google's policy. The "advanced" options will reveal some
information regarding your web navigation. Page Ranking works by
recording where you've been, so if you're a porno addict then beware
that Goggle will know (although they probably don't care specifically
about you but rather which pages you hit). I recall that I started to
wonder why I was going to a different site (by IP number) than what I
clicked on for a link on a page, especially during Google searches.
That's because they route you through their server first and then to
wherever the original URL went (so you might not get there if their
server was dead or unresponsive). I noticed this in my firewall's logs;
I'd click on a search match to, say, creative.com but the logs showed I
went to some other URL which had the creative.com URL as a parameter
(i.e., data). They have you go through their server to get to the
target site. Page Info also has privacy concerns. I don't think you
need to worry about Goggle tracking YOU; they probably only track what
pages get hit by you. After all, that's what Page Ranking and Page Info
are providing to you as a service, how often that page got hit and other
pages like it. If you don't want to divulge any of that info then
disable those options. I didn't like to add more instability by having
to bounce more hops to get to their server and then go through their
server (if up) to eventually get to the target site, so I don't bother
with those "advanced" options anymore.

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