By Perry Wolf, creator of covertLinks.

Da-dump…Da-dump…Da-dump…….

Lurking in the background on millions of PC’s is a threat few even notice. Only tell tale signs show it’s near, but to the unwary, they will not know it’s there, even when it hits!

No, it’s not a shark swimming with it’s dorsal fin splitting the water’s surface like a hot knife through butter, it’s Parasite Software running as a process in the background on your PC.

Parasite Software has become possibly the worst threat to any Affiliate Marketer as it infects millions of PC users, allowing Parasite Software owners to overwrite your Affiliate Cookies at whim, effectively stealing your Affiliate Commissions and creating a huge need to protect your affiliate links through various means, including affiliate link cloaking. Yet, surprisingly few Affiliate Marketers are aware of this threat, simply trying to protect their Affiliate Links from regular Link Hijackers without realizing the greater threat to them.

It’s difficult to determine whether or not Parasite Software is running on your PC, but one of the first signs that it’s there is slower PC or Browser Surfing performance. Another surefire sign your computer’s been infected is if your Home page in your web browser suddenly changes to one you didn’t set. This is commonly refer to as a “Browser Hijacking”.

Different forms of Parasite Software effect your Affiliate Commissions. Some is software that is inadvertantly installed and runs in the background on your computer, monitoring which websites you visit, waiting for one it’s affiliated with to do it’s evil magic. Others often use Browser Toolbars, most often in the form of Search Helpers or Price comparison toolbars etc. that a Web Surfer willingly installs in their web browser. It must be noted though, there are many helpful and legitimate toolbars out there.

How does this Parasite Software present a threat to Affiliate Marketers?

They tend run in the back ground through a process on your computer, and when the web surfer visits your web page and the Parasite Software is affiliated with product being promoted, it’ll serve up Pop-ups ads or directly send the surfer to the Merchant’s sales page through it’s own Affiliate URL that will set Affiliate Cookies for it’s owner. The Parsite Software will overwrite YOUR affiliate cookies with it’s own, making you lose your affiliate commission should a sale be made, even though you sent the visitor to the Merchant’s sales page first.

Parasite software ends up on user’s computers usually bundled with Free Software, such as free games etc. This free software may, or may not, mention the additional software being installed at the same time through it’s End User License, a document few ever take the time to read anyway. However, Parasite software in the form of Browser Helpers, (toolbars), is often installed willingly for the supposed helpfulness that the Software will provide the Surfer with.

Some Affiliate Marketers have contacted various Affiliate Managers and have imposed upon them to ban these people who own and run Parasite Software companies. This is met with questionable results. In many cases, these Parsite Software companies result in some of the highest Sales numbers for products listed, making it almost a ludicrous suggestion to drop an Affiliate Marketer even if they are referring these sales in an illegal manner. In other cases, when they do actually ban the Affiliate Marketer in question, it doesn’t help because these Affiliate Marketers just sign up again under a different name and keep going.

The better solution in this case would be for Affiliate Marketers to take steps towards negating the effectiveness of these Parasite Software programs. How can this be done? Well, through Link Cloaking, of course.

Affiliate Link Cloaking is managed several different ways, but the vast majority isn’t effective against Parasite Software. Most Affiliates simply use Redirect Links in order to hide their Affiliate Link at the source, however, this doesn’t protect their commissions from being stolen AFTER the visitor has arrived at the Merchant’s sales page…and that’s when the nasty Parasite Software likes to hit!

The key to effective protection against Parasite Software is to protect your Affiliate Links after the visitor has arrived at the Merchant’s sales page.

This could be done through Framing the Merchant’s sales page on your web site using your Affiliate Link to that Merchant for the Frame’s Source, (”src”). One GLARING problem with that though…Unless the Merchant’s web site, or the Affiliate Management web site, (if your link goes through one), has a “Compact Privacy Policy” in place, Internet Explorer will block your Affiliate Cookies from being set from within a Framed page…Ouch. That’d lose you 70-80% of your Commissions!

However, Perry Wolf of covertLinks.com has com up with a solution. Perry’s new covertLinks Software manages to Cloak your Affiliate Links both BEFORE, and AFTER, your visitor has arrived at the Merchant’s sales page. He Offer’s two versions, a strictly HTML version, and a PHP Version.

The HTML version creates Encrypted Framed pages for you that will protect your Affiliate Links after your visitor has arrived at the Merchant’s sales page, showing the Affiliated Merchant’s page on your web site, but it will also ensure your Affiliate Cookies get set successfully.

The PHP version shows the Merchant’s sales page through your Affiliate Link on your web site WITHOUT using Frames! The PHP version also provides additional protection by blocking the HTTP Headers sent by the Merchant’s sales page, something some Parasite Software is triggered from.

This is all done through an easy to use Software interface that only requires Copy & Paste abilities. No HTML or PHP knowledge is necessary, altough your own web site is. This can be a paid web site or any of a multitude of Free Web Sites available.

You can learn more about this new form of Affiliate Link protection at Perry’s Web Site, covertLinks. Visit Now & get a free Affiliate Link Encryptor!.

Please feel free to use this Article on Your own web site. Permissions are only that you do not change the Content in this Article in any way, shape, or form. If you’d like to get this Article preformatted to include your own Affiliate Links, join covertLinks.com’s Affiliate Program.

Take care,

Gilles Rais

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