How the hell does the Comet Cursor keep winding up installed on my system? In case you’re not familiar, the Comet Cursor is a little program that changes your mouse pointer into some other kind of icon. In addition to this, it sends out marketing information, like the kinds of pages you’re visiting, to certain sites. In the past, I’d get a Microsoft certificate asking me if I wanted to install the damn thing (never did, of course), but now, whenever I check Add/Remove Programs in the Windows control panel, it’s there, installed without my knowledge or consent. Is there any way I can block it without shutting off all Java and Active X controls?
Have you uninstalled both the Comet Cursor desktop application and the Comet Cursor web browser extension? You need to do both, according to their instructions. "Select ‘Comet - My Comet Cursor desktop application’ to uninstall only My Comet Cursor or select “Comet - Comet Cursor web browser extension” to uninstall both My Comet Cursor and the Comet Cursor web browser extension…’
I can tell you exactly where I got it. At Opalcat’s http://fathom.org/teemingmillions/people/ I clicked on Alphagene’s profile and it did it.
Opalcat, Are you aware that this is happening?
I reiterate that people that do this kind of thing should be hanged by the balls.
I hate this Comet Cursor. I had to search for all files and delete every instance of Comet Cursor I found. I run Zone Alarm and even with that it installs itself if a webpage has it. Why do people do this? Why?
Oops, sorry for the double post. Maybe our kind and friendly moderator can clean up (rather than hanging me by my softest parts) 
Double post deleted.
[Edited by UncleBeer on 10-11-2000 at 11:02 AM]
I am really messed up. I intended to post on this other thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=41664
My larger reply is on the other thread, but I want to point out that he did NOT get CC from http://fathom.org/teemingmillions/people but rather from http://fathom.org/teemingmillions/profiles which is the old system, which is slated for deletion at the end of the month. I toyed with CC for a few months over a year ago, and any profiles created during that brief time will have the code on them. I agree it’s annoying, which is why I stopped using it rather quickly.
You can also get it if you’re silly enough to install Realplayer. Especially if you aren’t careful about how many options you accept. But then, you never know what you’ll get if you aren’t careful, eh?
Hello. My name is Paula and I work at Comet Systems. I’ve just posted a response to these messages, as well as those in the thread " Comet Cursor Hijack", on the latter board. So rather than duplicate, I’d appreciate it if eveyone would head over to that particular thread. If you have any further questions after reading my reply, please send me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to discuss your concerns.
Just wanted to give everyone the link:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=41664
Thanks
Thank you Paula, for taking the time to address our members concerns. This is truly a class act, as well as a generally unexpected one from a software company.
Below is a hyperlink to the thread in our General Questions forum which contains Paula’s full response and recommended course of action for anyone having problems with the Comet Cursor.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=41664
Damned simultaneous posts.
Anyway, thanks again.