Adware company Claria this week took the unusual step of telling users to uninstall its software, following through on a promise to exit the adware business in order to focus on personalized search. Claria says it will stop sending pop-up ads to users" computers on July 1.
"Our software will continue to collect data about your web usage from your computer for research and other purposes as described in our Privacy Statement until September 30, 2006, unless you uninstall the software before this date," the company said in a statement on its Web site. "It is recommended that you uninstall all of GAIN Supported Software presently on your computer."
Claria is best known for its Gator application, later renamed to GAIN, which tracks where individuals surf on the Web and pushes related advertisements to their screens. The company became the scourge of privacy advocates who claimed Claria was pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to spyware