What does a parasite look like?
An example of a parasite is the IBIS menu bar. Below is the popup window for IBIS commercial software, which appeared on a Lehigh staff member’s machine. If you click “no” you will see this box. Note that the text in the first dialog appears within a standard Windows dialog box. The box suggests you already have the software and that this is an “upgrade.” The text in the second box is more insistent — like a sales pitch — which can be a clue to help you identify what software is specious. Once you download this software it is extremely difficult to uninstall. The IBIS toolbar collects information about your searches and modifies ads that appear in your browser.
