Home
Terms & Definitions
Parasites List
Categories
Threat Level
Contact Us
Spyware Information
Name: Comet Cursor
Threat Level:
Category: Browser Plugin
Variants: CometCursor/Shop was a release including a 'shopping cursor' feature.

CometCursor/Plus is a newer variant without this feature but with more toolbars, search- and search-results hijacking.

CometCursor/Toolbar is a version with only the toolbars, no actual pointer-changing features.

There are many older versions of CometCursor which have not been tested.

Spyware Characteristics
Description: Comet Cursor changes the mouse pointer when hovering over partner sites. It is infamous for being one of the first programs to install sneakily with another, and for tracking viewing habits.

Since the tracking only occured across partner sites the intrusion into privacy by the original CometCursor was minor (comparable to third-party ad network banners), as the company rightly argued. However newer versions have added other features unrelated to mouse pointers. They seem to have "cleaned up their act" for the most part.

(You may like the idea of custom pointer shapes, but CometCursor now drags in an lot of unrelated stuff with it. Incidentally in IE6 you can now use the standard CSS2 property 'cursor' to define a custom pointer shape for a web page - no extra software required.)

Properties:
  • Makes changes to browser settings.

What it does?
Advertising: No, though using a search engine causes a pane with links to Comet's search engine (with pay-for-placement links from search company Overture) to appear.
Privacy violation: No significant privacy violation known.
Security issues: None known, there is a self-update feature, but it should prompt the user before executing code.
Stability problems: None known in recent versions, apart from causing IE to start up slowly in some cases.

Method of infection
Often installed through ActiveX on partner web pages - used to be very widespread, but this practice has waned after all the bad press. Some software (notably Real Networks's) also stealth-installed older versions.

CometCursor/Toolbar is bundled with twistedhumor.com cartoons.

Removal Instructions
bulletproofsoft.com "Spyware Remover" is the best tool for the removal of this spyware.

Links
Site: http://www.cometcursor.com/