Casalemedia cookie?

Question

My system is running on Win XP and with McAfee virus scan. While doing OAS which runs practically everytime the system is on, i am getting some reports saying that some files are deleted. These files are found to be cookies by casalemedia, and doubleclick.

Does it mean that my system is infected with a spyware or adware ! If i run a diagnostic scan on all media and drives no virus infection is found

Answer 1

Cookies can install on your system simply by your visiting a facebook or msn site.  In fact that is how most social networking sites make their money.

Many companies use DoubleClick to serve banner ads on their sites. DoubleClick will load cookies on your machine via small gif files. DoubleClick can then track your movements across multiple sites. It can potentially see the search strings that you type into search engines (based on the way some search engines implement their systems, not because anything sinister is intended). Because it can gather so much information about you from multiple sites, DoubleClick can form very rich profiles.

Now everytime you visit a site with doubleclick, it looks for its own cookie on your computer so that it can target specific banner ads on that website to you.  And that's why you may notice certain banners (like on facebook)  are advertising a product that you may have searched just hours ago, or a service available in your region.  Personal or sensitive information is USUALLY not affected and these cookies are reasonably harmless.

In your case it seems McAffee has Doubleclick and Casalmedia registered as a possible spyware, and so it will delete said cookies as soon as they are discovered.

There is a lot of info on cookies and what they (can) do available on the internet.  Take some time to read about it.  Just remember that doubleclick may be watching :)