Yahoo! Toolbar BETA with Anti-Spy plays favorite with Adwares

The recently launched Yahoo! Toolbar BETA with Anti-Spy is in the news for the wrong reasons. Apparently, the beta toolbar does not select the option to search for Adwares by default and the reason behind the concept is being speculated in the fact that Yahoo! has a financial stake in one such category of software. The company under the scanner is Claria, best known for its Gator eWallet application which delivers pop-up and other forms of advertising from its GAIN ad network through software downloaded onto users’ machines.

In their defense, the Yahoo officials said Tuesday that the distinction between the qualities of spyware and adware is determined by the third-party vendor providing the technology, PestPatrol Inc. Yahoo spokeswoman Stephanie Ichinose said the toolbar beta integrates PestPatrol’s software but did not know whether PestPatrol’s own application also requires users to specifically select adware for detection.

Users who want to identify adware in their systems using the toolbar have to check a box each time they conduct a scan.