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 (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

software generally considered to be

adware Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue by automatically displaying Online advertising, online advertisements in the user interface or on a screen presented during the installatio ...

spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is any malware that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user by violating their privacy, endangering their device's securit ...

. 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 new form of online advertising. It was founded in 1998 by Denis Coleman (co-founder of Symant ...

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, previously 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. Adaware's headquarters are i ...

and

Computer Associates CA Technologies, Inc., formerly Computer Associates International, Inc., and CA, Inc., was an American multinational enterprise software developer and publisher that existed from 1976 to 2018. CA grew to rank as one of the largest independent ...

' PestPatrol 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 Inc. (formerly TRUSTe) is a privacy compliance technology company based in Walnut Creek, California. The company provides software and services to help corporations update their privacy management processes so they comply with government ...

has included WhenU's advertising software in its

whitelist A whitelist or allowlist is a list or register of entities that are being provided a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. Entities on the list will be accepted, approved and/or recognized. Whitelisting is the reverse of ...

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