Bits & Bytes

Here are the results of our Is It Safe? Pogo.com test.

We have heard from some online sources and suspected that pogo.com may be a source of spyware/adware and all kinds of other little nasties.   We decided to take a look ourselves and put it through the official Bits and Bytes Is It Safe? test!

Here’s how we test:

• First we setup a virtual machine using Microsoft’s Virtual PC.
• On this VM we install Windows XP with SP1.  (We are still using SP1 for the express purpose of not upgrading the security.  We WANT to see the nasties that may install and SP2 and higher has better security.  We also do not upgrade to IE7 or use Firefox for the same reason.)
• We install Spybot, but we do not install any of the resident programs like TeaTimer.  Again, we don’t want anything to stop the nasties!
• We scan using Spybot just in case.

That’s our base system for our tests!

Here’s what we did from there to test pogo.com:

• We setup a new email account that is solely used for this test.  This email address is not published anywhere and it is on an email server that I control.
• We used this email address to create an account at pogo.com.  I chose to opt-out of the mailing list when signing up.  Not choosing to do so would be unfair to those we are testing as long as it is clearing labeled during sign-up as it is at Pogo.
• From there, Pogo required me to install Java from Sun Microsystems.  The Sun Microsystems install asked me to install the Google toolbar, and I declined.  (Google Toolbar may be a topic for another Is It Safe? segment.)
• From there I played several of the online games.  Each opened in a new window and I was greated with an ad as the game loaded.  (I always assume these ads that take place “while the game loads” really just appear for a certain amount of time, but I’m not sure enough about that to state that as a fact.)
• A few of the games I played included Word Whomp, Turbo 21, Solitare, Cribbage, and Dominos.
• I also downloaded some of the “Try It” games including “The Poppit Show!”.  These games give you a time period to try the game before you purchase it, usually 60 minutes of playing time.
• After a week of playing and downloading games it was time to see the results.
  • While playing games at Pogo.com, I noticed no advertising pop-ups.  On the free games they have “breaks” after you play them a few times for a short ad, but no pop-ups.
  • I checked the test email and I had one email confirming my account information from Pogo.  No other email was recieved in that account.
  • I scanned the VM once again with Spybot and no spyware or adware was found.  It did find some advertising tracking cookies which can easily be taken care of by using IE7 or Firefox with the third-party cookies blocked.  This isn’t enough to declare Pogo unsafe.

The final results of our testing is that we are declaring pogo.com SAFE!

Here’s what I’m working on for next week:

We are going to start a new segment: “Is It Safe?”

During the “Is It Safe?” part of the show we will investigate various websites, products, and other items and find out if they are safe or not for you to use.  If you have ideas for things you aren’t sure if they are safe to download or run on your computer, email us at bit@pc-er.com and we will check it out for you!

This week we are going to look at Pogo.com.  In the past, Pogo has been accused of installed spyware and other junk on computers but they claim they are spyware free.  This week I’m investagating and I’ll report to you on Wednesday’s show how it goes!  Tune in Wednesday at 6pm on WHBU 1240!