Manage updates with the Download AppCNET Editors' review
As much as we may like to pretend otherwise, there are lots of people--or more accurately, companies--tracking our every move on the Internet. Most of the time the information that's being collected is for marketing purposes, not malicious ones, but even that can be a bit creepy. Ghostery is an unobtrusive add-on for Firefox that shows users exactly which trackers are present on a given Web page, making it much easier to control who's gathering information about you.
The program's interface is quite user-friendly, with the add-on appearing as a small Pac-Man-style ghost in Firefox's status tray. When Ghostery detects information-gathering scripts on a Web page, a link appears that shows the number of trackers found. Clicking on this link provides the name of each tracker and links to Web pages with more information about the companies in question, including descriptions and popularity rankings. Ghostery can also optionally show an alert bubble in the upper right corner of a Web page that lists the trackers that have been found. The program's interface makes it easy to block each individual tracker if desired, ensuring that information about your Internet usage isn't going to anyone you don't trust. Overall, we found Ghostery to be both unobtrusive and quite informative, and we recommend it to those who are concerned about keeping their Web surfing private.
Ghostery is free. As with most add-ons, it doesn't have a Help file, but it's very easy to figure out. Ghostery installs and uninstalls without issues. We recommend this program to all users.
Publisher's Description
From David Cancel:
Ghostery alerts you about the web bugs, ad networks and widgets on every page on the web.Web bugs are hidden scripts that track your behavior and are used by the sites you visit to understand their own audience.
What's new in this version: Version 2.6.2 added full German and French translations, error messages to indicate bug library manual update failures, and fixed issues with cookie monster throwing errors.
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All versions:
3.2 starsout of 21 votes
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Current version:
1.2 starsout of 4 votes
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My rating:
Write review
Results 1-4 of 4
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"Worked for a short time."
Version: Ghostery 2.6.2
Pros
Worked as advertised for a week or so. Program has potential once, as others have said, the Internet Explorer 9 problems get straightened.
Cons
Started having problems with Gmail not being able to load standard view. After a lot of research, I finally narrowed it down to ghostery, deleted it and Gmail standard view returned. Removed Ghostery without issue with Revo.
Summary
In the meantime, I signed up for notification of a similar program when available at abine.com. It's a project of a former McAfee exec and looks promising.
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"Ghostery 2.6.2"
Version: Ghostery 2.6.2
Pros
installed okay; shows tracking near upper right of screen
Cons
slowed down load of IE9 significantly; unable to load news articles from YAHOO mail screen; did not do a clean uninstall; was unable to delete 3 modules using using Windows Explorer; tracking was still showing on screen; had to use CCleaner to clean registry before I was able to delete the modules using Windows Explorer.
Summary
I would not recommend loading Ghostery 2.6.2 on a 64 bit Vista Business system with IE9 until these issues have been resolved.
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"Multiple problems"
Version: Ghostery 2.6.2
Pros
Once I found the program's icon, the controls seemed to be fairly intuitive. If they worked, that is.
Cons
Completely confounding. Downloaded program, but icon was hidden. Took a while to find. Once icon was found, tried to enable blocking, but every time I clicked on the icon, it was back to disabled. Re-enabled, same story every time. After troubleshooting for a good while on their website, they said they are having problems with IE9. Also, my hotmail was completely inaccessable with ghostery installed, even when not "enabled".
Complete waste of my time. Trying another program.Summary
May work for you if you use firefox or some other browser, but don't bother if you have IE.
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"Do not Trust"
Version: Ghostery 2.6.2
Pros
I don't thing I have any because of my concerns about the way this programs operates.
Cons
It blocks all other tracking cookies but does not block it's own, which gets rid of the competition,right? After I downloaded the program it seemed to work but a couple of days later my email was loaded up with spam, which I have not had a problem with in the past. I think they took my IP address an gave it to every third party advertizer they had. I have since uninstalled the program and have not had the problem again.
Results 1-4 of 4
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