New.net
New.net is a company that sells domains in alternate top-level domains not supported in the official DNS system, and publishes NewDotNet, an application that makes use of these domains. The top-level domains New.net provides include: .shop, .xxx, .club, .ltd, .inc, .travel, .tech, .sport, .family, .law, .med, and .mp3. Of these, .travel and possibly soon .xxx are in conflict with official TLDs later authorized by ICANN to be implemented by other registries. It should be noted that New.net's domains are not authentic TLDs, but are actually third level domains under the new.net domain name space (e.g., example.shop is really example.shop.new.net).
At one time several Internet Service Providers, such as Earthlink were compatible with New.net domains without any software being installed on the user's computer, though the number that still enable their network to handle new.net domains is not known.[1] New.net was aquired by Vendare Media in 2004. None of the original employees remain at New.net.
New.net software
New.net distributes NewDotNet, an Internet Explorer plugin for Windows that enables the browser to access sites that use these unofficial domain names. It has been bundled with a large number of free downloadable programs, including Audiogalaxy, Babylon, BearShare, Go!Zilla, Grokster, iMesh, Warez, and KaZaA. Older versions of NewDotNet displayed unsolicited pop-up ads. Recent versions instead redirect search queries to the New.net search engine for keyword searches from the browser address bar or domain errors -- a common behavior used by popular search applications such as the Google Toolbar. It has an auto-update feature.
Several different versions of NewDotNet exist. The earliest version in 2001 were installed into the Windows directory as a DLL named "newdotnet" followed by a version number, and did not include an option to uninstall via the standard windows "add/remove" function. All versions since include the simple add/remove uninstaller and create a folder in "c:\Program Files". A version introduced in a brief test in 2002 (since discontinued) included a pop-up advertising component.
The program functions by inserting itself into the Winsock system, which can in some situations disrupt network connectivity. A typical symptom for dial-up systems is that the user is able to dial out normally but cannot access the Internet. Nothing about an alternative DNS root requires the installation of new software, but one possible explanation for using a browser plug in would be to avoid running public recursive resolvers. New.net also have instructions for setting up your own recursive resolver to query new.net domains but they put these instructions in the isp information section of their site.
Well-known and generally trusted anti-spyware programs like Ad-Aware and Spybot are usually effective at removing this software, however newer versions of Ad-Aware no longer remove it after a lawsuit was filed against Ad-Aware by New.net (New.net, Inc. v. Lavasoft, 356 F. Supp. 2d 1090, C.D. Cal. 2004). More recent versions of NewDotNet can be uninstalled using the standard Windows "Add/Remove Programs" control panel or an uninstaller in "C:\Program Files\New.net". Manual removal, if performed incorrectly, can completely disrupt the computer's ability to access the internet. This can be fixed with an LSP Fix program, available here.
Technical information
New.Net creates a DLL called newdotnetV_VV.dll (V_VV represents a version number). This DLL runs silently on start-up. All DNS entries pass through it. Simply deleting the DLL causes the internet connection to be broken.
External links
- New.net homepage
- Factual information about NewDotNet software Backup from the Internet Archive
- Detailed criticism of New.net and its plugin Backup from the Internet Archive