As of October 2003, Gator Corp., the original developers of Gator (GAIN; GAIN Network; IEGator; PDPPlugin; Gator/A; and variants, including Gator/Dashbar, Gator/GAIN, Gator/HDPlugin, Gator/PDP, and Gator/Trickler), officially changed its name to Claria. The most notorious Claria offering is the GAIN Network. In the words of Claria, the GAIN Network is a "behavioral advertising network" (which means it's adware) for delivering targeted pop-up ads to users of affiliated Web-based services and freeware. Some of that freeware is developed by Claria, including the Gator eWallet, which conveniently remembers a user's passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal information to simplify the process of logging in to frequently visited Web sites; Weatherscope, a weather-reporting utility that displays the current temperature in the System Tray; and Precision Time, a clock-synchronization utility.

You are most likely to acquire a component of Gator when you install freeware applications—including Kazaa (see our entry later in this article)—that are affiliated with the GAIN Network. Likewise, you may inadvertently link yourself to the GAIN Network simply by visiting affiliated Web sites or clicking one of the network's many pop-up ads. Claria claims that users receive fair warning before they download and install any program that has ties to the GAIN Network. This is true, but it's also true that the warnings are bundled with an EULA (end-user license agreement), which many users routinely ignore.

How To Tell If Gator Is Present On Your System

You'll notice the appearance of a pop-up ad or window that includes a reference to "Gator" or "GAIN" in its Title bar.

How To Get Rid Of Gator With Ad-Aware SE

Gator is among the most widespread of all spyware utilities. If you unwittingly acquire it, a popular anti-spyware utility such as Ad-Aware SE will help you recognize and remove it. Start by opening the program and clicking the Scan Now button to search your system for suspicious programs. When the scan is complete, choose the Critical Objects tab to view the list of identified components. The list should include one or more Gator components. Select all of the spyware-related items and click the Next button. Click OK to verify your decision to remove the selected objects. Ad-Aware will move the selected items to a quarantine folder. If Ad-Aware cannot remove an item, you can cancel its removal or defer its removal until the next time you reboot. Close Ad-Aware when the quarantine is complete.

WARNING: The following section includes step-by-step information on how to edit the Windows Registry, a large database containing system and program settings that are essential to how the OS (operating system) operates. Follow Registry-editing instructions to the letter and be sure to make a backup of your Registry before you begin. (Registry errors can render your computer inoperable if you don't have a backup.) This procedure differs depending on the OS you use. For more information on backing up and editing the Registry, see these articles: "Protect Yourself" and "Register Here."

How To Get Rid Of Gator Manually

Because Gator-related software can attack your PC under many different guises, we recommend using an anti-spyware utility such as Ad-Aware SE to find and remove all of them. If you prefer to do things the old-fashioned way, however, you should start by determining which GAIN programs are installed on your PC. Open the Start menu, locate the GAIN folder in the list of installed programs, and select the corresponding About GAIN option. Click the For A List Of GAIN Supported Products On Your Computer Click Here link in the resulting window. A list of Gator-related components will appear on-screen. Take note of each component included in this list.

Next, access the Add Or Remove Programs (Add/Remove Programs Properties in WinMe and Win98) dialog box and look for the names of the Gator-related components installed on your PC. Highlight the first GAIN-related component you find and click its corresponding Remove or Add/Remove button. Follow the on-screen instructions to uninstall it. Opt to delete user information if you get the chance. When the uninstall is complete, click the Details button (if provided) to identify any remaining folders, files, and Registry values that you must remove manually. Reboot if instructed to do so and repeat the process to remove other GAIN-related applications installed on your PC. Uninstalling these applications should sever all ties between your PC and the GAIN Network.

You aren't done yet, however. The next step is to clean out the Registry for good measure. Open the Registry Editor and track down the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\RUN key. Peruse its contents for any values that refer to CME, CMESys, FSG_, GMT, or Trickler. For each one you find, right-click it and select Delete from the pop-up menu. Verify your actions by clicking Yes. Next, delete any keys or values that weren't removed during the uninstall. (These were identified to you when you clicked the Details button.) Close the Registry Editor and restart your system.

After Windows starts again, open My Computer and access the Program Files folder on the Windows drive. Locate and delete the WEBPT and WEBDM subfolders (if present). Likewise, open the PROGRAM FILES\COMMON FILES folder and delete the CMEII and GMT subfolders (if present). You also should delete the WINDOWS\TEMP\ADWARE folder (if present) and any files or folders that weren't removed during the uninstall. (These were identified to you when you clicked the Details button.) While you're at it, open the StartUp submenu on the Start menu and delete the shortcut that points to GMT.exe (if present). Use the Windows search function to locate and delete any files that refer to Fsg*.exe and Trickler.

Finally, return to the Registry Editor and delete the following key and values (if present):

· HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{21FFB6C0-0DA1-11D5-A9D5-00500413153C}

· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Gator.com

· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GatorTest

Close the Registry Editor and reboot your system to complete the process.