WhenU Save/SaveNow (commonly referred to simply as WhenU or SaveNow), developed by the company WhenU, is a piece of

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

software generally considered to be

adware Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the ...

spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their privac ...

. The program delivers advertisements, compares shopping results and other offers to users' computers, and tracks their browsing habits. WhenU is typically installed with other applications, ostensibly to support the free existence of those applications. WhenU cannot be installed without a user reading a disclosure screen and clicking "I accept" or "Next" to give consent, sometimes unknowingly. This model is similar to previous software known as Gator from the company now known as

Claria Corporation Claria Corporation (formerly Gator Corporation) was a software company based in Redwood City, California that invented “Behavioral Marketing”, a highly effective but controversial new form of online advertising. It was founded in 1998 by D ...

Security concerns

Although WhenU's advertising software declares that it poses no risk of harm to users' computers, it is considered by many to be unwelcome because it serves pop-up advertisements and slows down the computer. Lavasoft's

Ad-Aware Adaware, formerly known as Lavasoft, is a software development company that produces spyware and malware detection software, including Adaware. It operates as a subsidiary of Avanquest a division of Claranova. The company offers Adaware in ...

and

Computer Associates CA Technologies, formerly known as CA, Inc. and Computer Associates International, Inc., is an American multinational corporation headquartered in New York City. It is primarily known for its business-to-business (B2B) software with a product po ...

PestPatrol CA Anti-Spyware is a spyware detection program distributed by CA, Inc. Until 2007, it was known as PestPatrol. This product is now offered by Total Defense, Inc. and has been named Total Defense Anti-Virus. History PestPatrol, Inc. was a Carlis ...

briefly de-listed WhenU as an adware target in February 2005.Leading Antispyware Vendors Quietly Drop WhenU Detection
Mike Healan, SpywareInfo, February 14, 2005. Why these two programs stopped detecting WhenU while continuing to target other similar adware programs has led to some speculation of their reasoning. WhenU was added back to Lavasoft's detection list a month later.

TRUSTe TrustArc (formerly TRUSTe) is a privacy compliance technology company based in San Francisco, California. The company provides software and services to help corporations update their privacy management processes so they comply with government laws a ...

has included WhenU's advertising software in its

whitelist A whitelist, allowlist, or passlist is a mechanism which explicitly allows some identified entities to access a particular privilege, service, mobility, or recognition i.e. it is a list of things allowed when everything is denied by default. It is ...

as certified software.{{cite web, url=http://www.truste.org/pvr.php?page=td_licensees , title=TRUSTe Whitelist of Certified Applications , date=2007-12-15 , accessdate=2014-06-14 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215221452/http://www.truste.org/pvr.php?page=td_licensees , archivedate=December 15, 2007

References

Adware

Security concerns

See also

References