# Random links appearing in web pages I visit... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2001, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978 "2001-08-05T12:47:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Royal\_Sampler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Royal\_Sampler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Sampler)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/1 "2001-08-05T12:47:40Z")
Whenever I visit a website that has the word “gambling”, “casino”, “blackjack”, “baccarat” or such words like these appearing in the text of the site, a brown line appears under the word and when I move my mouse cursor over it, the words “you can win at [iwin.com](http://iwin.com)!” appear above the cursor. And when I click it, it takes me to [iwin.com](http://iwin.com). This happens on ANY website I visit with casino-like words written on them. Why is this? There are no iwin programs running in the background of my computer, nor is there anything in my taskbar that could be making this happen. What is making these links appear? ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/2 "2001-08-05T14:04:49Z")
Do you have the music-sharing service Kazaa installed? This comes with an application called TopText. Go to the Add/Remove Programs control panel, and find the listing for TopText, or something to that effect, and uninstall it. If this doesn’t help, then I’m not sure about what is going on. ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Sampler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Royal\_Sampler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Sampler)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/3 "2001-08-05T14:09:27Z")
Nope, no Kazaa… ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/4 "2001-08-05T14:10:57Z")
There are a lot of programs that install SpyWare which track your web surfing habits without your knowledge or consent. You might want to try running [AdAware](http://www.lavasoftusa.com/index.html) (freeware) and make sure you don’t have any of these programs installed. –Nut _Shift to the left! Shift to the right! Pop up, push down! Byte, byte, byte!_ ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Sampler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Royal\_Sampler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Sampler)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/5 "2001-08-05T14:19:47Z")
Thanks Nuf, testing it now… ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Sampler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Royal\_Sampler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Sampler)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/6 "2001-08-05T15:07:20Z")
Nuf, you’re a champion. Thanks a million. Problem solved. Thing is, what is it that all these “Spyware” files get up to? What are they used for, and how did they get there? ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Sampler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Royal\_Sampler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Sampler)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/7 "2001-08-05T15:08:44Z")
And I just realised that it’s Nut, not Nuf… errr, sorry about that! ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/8 "2001-08-05T15:35:46Z")
Sounds like that micro$oft “smartlinks” thing. Does it happen on any other sites? What OS and what browser are you using? ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/9 "2001-08-05T15:49:12Z")
um, I meant “Smart Tags”. But supposedly that hasn’t been releases yet. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/10 "2001-08-05T16:21:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kalashnikov \* > \*\*um, I meant “Smart Tags”. But supposedly that hasn’t been releases yet. \*\* Yeah, it has. It’s in Office XP, which was released in June, and in the public beta of IE6, which was released in July. It’s also in the Windows XP betas, including Release Candidate 1, which was shipped last month. MS has announced it would be removed in the final version of Win XP. Anyway, the SmartTags work differently than how the OP described them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/11 "2001-08-05T18:54:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Thing is, what is it that all these “Spyware” files get up to? What are they used for, and how did they get there? It all starts when you (or someone else on your computer) downloads a program. It might be some sort of multimedia program (I beleive that RealPlayer has been accused of doing this), it might be something that does “cute” things to your cursor, it might be a few other things as well. When you install it, it either proceeds to gather information about you, which is then sold to various folks, or it sneaks in ads of some sort, which someone is paying for. Either way, the result is annoyance for you, and money for the unscrupulous company which “gave” you the original program for “free”. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-links-appearing-in-web-pages-i-visit/74978/12 "2001-08-05T19:13:25Z")
Spyware is often quite blatant, too. Ever read the terms and conditions when you download freeware or shareware programs? Some of them will mention innocuous terms or flashily-named add-ons that you just don’t pay attention to (well, I don’t).