TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: KAZAA - BRILLIANT OR BOGUS?

Millions of people have downloaded Kazaa, the popular file-sharing software. They knew they were getting a tool to download music and video files. But they didn't realize they were volunteering their computer to join an army of obedient drones, serving without pay.

KAZAA - A BRILLIANT IDEA?

In order to download and install Kazaa, you must agree to unending pages of legalese, in which you agree to grant a third party "the right to access and use computing power and storage space on your computer... without compensation."

You get to use Kazaa for free, but your PC becomes part of a network called Altnet, operated by Brilliant Digital Entertainment. Altnet is not fully operational now, but very soon Brilliant expects to awaken the computers owned by tens of millions of Kazaa users, putting them to work in various ways, which may include distributing advertising or participating in distributed computing efforts.

---> BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

In addition to the bundling of Brilliant Digital's Altnet, Kazaa users must also agree to the installation of Cydoor, a plugin that enables Kazaa to display targeted advertising. Additionally, the Kazaa installer will load other software including New.Net, SaveNow, and MediaLoads - unless you specifically opt out of them during the installation process.

---> IS IT EVIL SPYWARE?

Many people have accused Kazaa of being spyware or have ascribed malicious intent to Brilliant's Altnet. It *is* disconcerting that software licenses are written in such a way that most people just click the little "I AGREE" button and don't bother reading the fine print.

But there's nothing evil about Kazaa or the numerous extras that come with it. Neither Kazaa nor their advertising partners are stealing or revealing your personal information.

You may not like the fact that you have to put up with banner ads or popups, but if you want to continue using software that will help you to illegally obtain the copyrighted work of pop culture icons, then the people that develop the Kazaa software have to get paid somehow.

Fortunately, you CAN uninstall the Brilliant, New.Net, SaveNow, and MediaLoads software without affecting the function of Kazaa. To remove the Brilliant/Altnet code, follow the instructions here:

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-875274.html

For the others, click on My Computer, Control Panel, then use the Add/Remove Software icon to remove them.

---> OH, AND BEWARE OF THE KAZAA-RELATED VIRUS

I just KNOW this story is going to be misinterpreted, so let me say right at the beginning of this paragraph that KAZAA IS NOT A VIRUS. But there is a new worm on the loose known as Benjamin, that does specifically target users of Kazaa.

Benjamin appears in the form of popular song and movie files, and is difficult to detect since the file can have almost any name. The worm apparently doesn't do much damage, other than filling up hard drive space with copies of itself, and so far only a handful of Kazaa users have been affected.

According to a CNET story, the Benjamin worm spreads when one person downloads a fake media file from an infected Kazaa user. The worm displays a message saying that a file corruption error has occurred, and creates a new folder called C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\SYS32.

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-918132.html

If you use Kazaa, check for existence of the telltale folder listed above, and make sure your anti-virus program is up to date. For removal instructions, visit the Trend Micro AntiVirus site below:

http://antivirus.com/search/google/results.asp?q=benjamin+solution

---> SO KAZAA REALLY *IS* EVIL, RIGHT?

Let's summarize... to use Kazaa, you MUST install the Cydoor adware plugin (which may target you with popup ads) and the Brilliant Altnet software (which may borrow your computer's unused processor, hard drive, and internet connection resources). And if you don't pay careful attention during the install process, you could end up with the New.Net, SaveNow, and MediaLoads software - all of which are unnecessary to the functioning of Kazaa, and which may further bog down your poor, tired computer.

Are we evil yet, Daddy?

Nah. But we are exposed to a legion of new viruses, and we may have trouble sleeping at night because we downloaded all the songs from Shakira's latest CD instead of buying it at Walmart.

Are we evil yet, Daddy?

DON'T MAKE ME STOP THIS BUS AND COME BACK THERE! Oh, sorry... I guess I got a little carried away by the whining. No, we're not evil yet. If Kazaa was surreptitiously stealing information and reporting back to Hacker HQ, then I'd say it was evil. And even though I don't agree with the whole "file sharing" philosophy, I have to admit that what people do with Kazaa is not Kazaa's fault. It can be used for good or evil, just like a knife or a stick.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of Patrick's Most Useful Sites series later this week. See you next time! -- Bob Rankin