C.O.A.S.T., R.I.P.

The zombie corpse of COAST, which had still been shuffling around long after we all knew it had died, finally sent out its obituary. An announcement on the Web site says COAST has ceased operation, and that the Web site will be taken down on April 15. COAST's death came about because it let in adware companies, which are desperately working to get on our good sides. That move turned into a classic lose-lose situation.

On another note, Spyware Warrior is doing an excellent job covering drive-by spyware installs. With this tactic, spyware makers infect your computer when you view a Web page. I didn't use to believe in drive-bys. I used to think that if someone had spyware on their computer, they must have downloaded it. But my mind was changed a while ago when I watched screen capture videos of it happening. I absolutely recommend you read Spyware Warrior to find out more about drive-bys.