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AnchorDesk

David Coursey
The mystery of Comet Cursor: How it got on my PC (yours too)

David Coursey
Executive Editor, AnchorDesk
Tuesday, January 23, 2001
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How did Comet Cursor get onto my machine? What does it do? And is it really spyware? Those are three questions I asked myself after seeing a story claiming the program was crashing people's PCs -- and blaming RealNetworks for the problem.

Here's what happened to me:

Sometime toward the end of 1999, I noted a program called Comet Cursor in my "Add/Remove Programs" control panel. I guessed the program had something to do with changing my cursor but had no idea how the program got onto my machine. Or whether it was safe to delete it. Maybe some program needs Comet Cursor to function properly, I reasoned.

I briefly considered the program might be a security breach -- an innocuous program set to do damage to my computer or perhaps a backdoor allowing someone secret access to my PC.

Then I started noticing it in the Add/Remove Programs control panel on all my PCs. This got my attention. I'm pretty well buttoned-up with anti-virus programs, and Windows didn't seem any more crashy than usual. So I took an attitude of "watchful waiting" for any potential programs -- or benefits -- associated with the program.

Finally, I decided I had enough of whatever Comet Cursor was or wasn't doing. So I just deleted the program from the control panel. Nothing bad (or good) happened and that was that. Except, of course, the program would occasionally return to a previously cleaned machine, in a strangely virus-like phenomenon.

I NOW know -- after following up on the latest "spyware" claims -- that Comet Cursor is a marketing gizmo that Web sites can use to change your cursor into, say, Bart Simpson. Or Dilbert. Or Pokemon. Or any of over 25,000 custom cursors.

This can happen because you visit a Web site and download the ActiveX Control or if you visit Comet Systems' Web site and download a desktop version of the program. Some people think these cursors are cute -- the company claims about 5,000,000 unique users each month.

But I didn't do any of these things -- and never saw a custom cursor on my machine! Yet I probably found my way into Comet's self-proclaimed 60 million users. How?

Because I downloaded software from RealNetworks and Comet Cursor came bundled with it, something I didn't notice at the time but learned as I read the "spyware" stories. It's not clear to me that RealNetworks even mentioned I was getting it, but if they did, I missed it. I wonder how many millions of people -- dutifully counted by Comet Systems as part of their installed base -- did the same thing?

If you think you might be one of them, do this: Click on the Windows "Start" button, select "Settings," then "Control Panel," then open "Add/Remove Programs." On the "Install/Uninstall" tab look for Comet Cursor. If you see it and don't want it, you can delete it.

It is also possible, as a friend found out, to have Comet Cursor show up as an icon someplace on the PC, but that was because his kids downloaded the program, perhaps to get the South Park cursor. There is an uninstaller included with that version of the program.

I THINK it's pretty sly of Real not to have made it obvious that I was installing Comet Cursor with their product. Thankfully, it's not an issue for users of version 8.0 of RealAudio because Real's bundling agreement with Comet has ended.

I question the honesty of companies that clandestinely install programs onto your machine that don't do anything -- then count you as a customer. But that's just me.

As for the spyware allegations, they're not true. Such reports amounted to nothing more than one of those urban legends that circulate around the Web. While its software does tell its server someone has seen one of its custom cursors -- they get paid based on these impressions -- it doesn't send any identifying information about the user back to the company.

Allowing Comet Systems to know you've used the Dilbert cursor is the price you pay for using it. Seems fair enough to me.

So the upshot of this is: Comet Cursor may be mysterious -- it certainly was to me -- but it's not spyware and it's not a problem, per se. You may even like it, now that you know what it is. But if you find it on your machine and don't want it, feel free to remove it. Mystery solved!

Comet Cursor doesn't really hurt anyone. But what do you think of RealNetworks' tactic of installing the software without making it clear it was doing so? TalkBack to me.

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