in regards to Black-Wolf's posting, WeatherBug is not spyware or adware. In fact, we are passionately committed to fighting the spread of these technologies because they damage the environment in which we do business.

Our formal spyware policy can be found at: http://www.weatherbug.co...support/faq_spyware.htm
where you can also find free downloads to what we believe are some of the most effective anti-spyware detection programs, as part of our commitment to end spyware. As noted by a previous poster, none of the major spyware detectors list us: not spybot, not AdAware, pest patrol, web washer, spykiller, spysweeper, etc. etc. etc.

We are also a member of COAST (Coalition Against Spyware Technology www.coast-info.org) and are TRUSTe certified.

For the record, spyware tracks websurfing activity and sometimes reads what is on the user’s hard drive. WeatherBug is not capable of tracking your overall web use or deciphering anything on your hard drive. PERIOD. Any software program that is implying or reporting that WeatherBug is 'spyware' or a ‘data-miner’ is COMPLETELY incorrect.

We own the world’s largest weather network and are committed to being the best, most reliable source of live, local weather information for millions of consumers (32 million and growing), thousands of schools, dozens of major businesses, and over 100 television stations.

In fact, you don't even need a valid email address to register- unlike this very betanews forum where I HAD TO HAVE a valid email to click a link to activate- WeatherBug requires no such valid email. The ads on the main weather screen are from sponsors you select and in 6.0 are far less noticeable than previous version.

Please, for those of you posting on this site- while opinions about whether you want a live weather program on your system or whether you think we're the best or like other programs instead, that's great, but it should be tempered with a corresponding commitment to posting truthful comments about our program.

If you have questions, please go to www.weatherbug.com/help or send them directly to me at jay@weatherbug.com

Sincerely,
Jay Hoffman
manager
WeatherBug customer support team

Dude, HOW can you claim that Weatherbug is not adware? That is RIDICULOUS and this type of silly claim only CONFIRMS your deceitful intention and further DAMAGES your credibility.

Weatherbug spawns a LOAD of POPUP ADS from the moment it is installed! Ad, after ad, after POPUP AD!

Like the other guy said... I would rather NOT KNOW the weather than have this garbage on my PC.

What program are you running that is giving you so many pop-ups, because I sure don't experience that with WeatherBug 6.02. I even disabled my ad/pop-up blocker and still no pop-ups. There's a banner ad at the bottom of the program and that's it. That's not asking too much for a good free service. Might want to scan your system to see if there's any viruses or spy/adware.

http://www.spysweeper.com/remove-spyware.html

Didn't you just say that Spysweeper doesn't list Weatherbug?

I'd be very skeptical of anything that installs "My Search" BHO in Internet Explorer toolbar. I hear rumors though that MS is about to cave in and stop all Active-X based BHO's from installing. Weatherbug will have a happy time with SP2 anyway, even as it is.

Hotbar, WhenU, MyWebSearch, Weatherbug and programs of this ilk will be crying the blues if MS gets smart and stops allowing parasites to invade Internet Explorer. Maybe then the mad dash to Firefox will cease.

There would be nothing more pleasing than to see these spyware oops "Adware" companies go belly up.

If the program is so good, why not sell it? Make your money off the "paid" or "pro version"? Why not? Because there are not enough suckers to buy it in the qunatities needed to support the big salaries and high overheads of the companies that produce these parasites.

There are many other truly free weather programs out there, made by small companies or individuals that are as good as Weatherbug.

You can deny that your software is not spyware until you're blue-in-the-face, but you meet the definition of it according to the Spy-Block Act now pending in the U.S. Senate. Already Hotbar is posting notices that if you live in Utah (which recently passed an anti-spyware law) you're not allowed to download its software; although Hotbar claims vehemently that its software is not spyware rather it is adware. Hmmm....

I see bad things ahead for companies like Weatherbug (which was once a decent and honest program). And good things ahead for the Internet community. People are at last finally realizing that there really isn't such a thing as a free lunch. Hell, even Microsoft has an anti-spyware page!

I have found that the most insidious spyware...ummm sorry "Adware" programs are the ones most vociferous about NOT being spyware. They make very visible statements "We are Not Spyware". Why? You have a very defensive posture if you're truly innocent.

You must be joking me.

After executing the software, you see a lot of ads.

And there's pop-ups!!! You tell me there is no adware or spyware?

Very idiotic if this software is not an adware or spyware infested.

Try running ad-aware and spybot, none found. http://www.weatherbug.com/aws/notSpyware.html

Why go to NOHAA or anywhere else with it on your desktop? Try The Weather Channels also. I like the Thunder noise, and it flashing red hard to miss a t-storm or tornado warning. WB just makes some wierd bug noise that could mean a change in temp..

Thanks for the advice I uninstalled weatherbug and installed the weather.com application. Does it alert you to watches as well?

I really like WeatherBug, but I am extremely disappointed that they have chosen to force the toolbar installation this time. I did a clean install of 6.0 and uninstalled the toolbar via Add/Remove Programs. I ran Ad-aware 6 and it didn't report anything on WeatherBug.

If you want the ads blocked, try Ad Muncher which works great in several browsers too.

WeatherBug 6.0 is a great weather program that does what it claims. They just need to learn better installer practices.

Now with more intrusive ads!!!

just use http://www.noaa.gov

Maybe it should be called AdBug instead of WeatherBug.

I would rather not know the weather than have this POS on my computer.

There is an awesome freeware weather program called WeatherWatcher that I've used for about a year now. Give it a try at: www.singerscreations.com

if your definition of adware is any program that serves ads, then yes, we're adware- as is hotmail, yahoo mail AOL instant messenger, etc.

but according to sites like Symantec, makes of Norton, adware is not simply a program that serves ads or we'd have adware/spyware detectors calling HOtmail "adware" a million times a day- hey, this very site has ads on it- I'm seeing a big "cupid junction" dating ad right next to this box as I type. http://securityresponse....nded_threats/index.html

If you go by the very broad definition of adware then that is your call. But the spyware allegation is 100% false no matter what definition you go by.

As for the ads- we serve a MAXIMUM of 4 pop-unders per 24 hour period- 1 when you first maximize the main screen and 1 when you minimize and if you run the program 24/7 you may get 2 more over the next 24 hours depending on when you click (we don't randomly serve them, it would only be when you maximize the main screen). And we specifically allow our ads to be blocked by most major pop-up blockers.

As always, feel free to check out more in at www.weatherbug.com/help our FAQ, or write me directly at jay@weatherbug.com

Thanks
Jay Hoffman
customer support team manager
WeatherBug

I originally had Weatherbug Version 5 over a year ago, then subscribed to WeatherbugPro for the last year. I love it and it is EXTREMELY accurate. Yes, the original free version has a couple of ads on it, but so do the home pages for aol and msn as well as yahoo, etc. The changable skins are great, and living in the northern US with the horrendous winters we get, we need an accurate weather predictor. Our city has one of the largest snowfall amounts in the country. We get wicked lake effect snow, and without the weatherbug alerting us to these sudden lake effect events, I don't know what we would have done! I have now renewed my subscription and gotten upgraded to Version 6 which is WeatherbugPlus. Subscribing to the paid version gives you a choice of whether you want the toolbar or not, which I did not as it conflicts with my other favorite toolbar. When I did have the FREE version, I used the toolbar for a long time, but then easily uninstalled it by going to the control panel and just clicking "remove". We love the Weatherbug; not just myself, but my husband and son as well. I tried the Weather Channel weather predictor, but I had terrible problems with it, even after uninstalling and reinstalling it. I must have done that 3 times. I waited a year and recently did it, and there was no change. It always freezes, and some of the weather info is blank.