Malware removers:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware - http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
• SuperAntispyware - http://www.superantispyware.com/
• Spybot Search & Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
• AdAware - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

If these don't find it or can't clear it, post in one of these forums for specialized malware removal help:

• http://www.spywarewarrior.com/index.php
• http://www.spywareinfoforum.com/
• http://bleepingcomputer.com/
• http://www.thespykiller.co.uk/index.php?board=3.0
• http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showforum=27

Or you could just add an Easy Privacy subscription to Adblock Plus and see if that blocks it.

See "How To Crush the “b.scorecardresearch.com” Bug" on the "Lingua Franca" blog by Omar Upegui R at:

http://epiac1216.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/how-to-crush-the-b-scorecard-research-com-bug/

Omar Upegui R writes:

"I found this site—ScorecardResearch – Privacy Policy— which explained how to get rid of the b.scorecardresearch bug. This is what they said about removing their beacon or cookie, or whatever the name of their bug is called.

   “In order to identify browser-level behavior such as new versus repeat visitors to a website or page, we may drop cookies in support of our market research efforts. To opt-out of this browser-level tracking you can click here http://www.scorecardresearch.com/OptOut.aspx here. If you choose to opt-out, a cookie will be placed on your computer instructing us to disable our ability to browser-level track of your website visitation while on a website with a ScorecardResearch beacon installed. However, if your browser does not accept cookies, or if you delete all of your cookies, then this browser-level tracking may occur. Additionally, this opt-out is only effective when you are using the Internet browser you were using when you opted-out.”

"I followed their instructions and removed the pesky software. Lo and behold, as soon as the bug was removed from my computer, everything came back to normal. All my previous sites worked and my surfing speed came back to what is was before the computer was infested."

<End of Omar Upegui R quote>

I clicked on the link and a very simple text page was displayed stating " Thank you. You have now been opted out of receiving cookies from ScorecardResearch."

I'll update this post with status once I know the results of my actions.

DR58Martin

I did the opt out option, but I don't think the tracker has been removed. I have an add on called Self-Destructing Cookies because I noticed that scorecard research thing wouldn't slow down my browser anymore when I cleared my recent history and cookies.

I just did the opt out option, but I am still getting exploding cookies from scorecardreasearch.com, and they are marked as tracker cookies.

In a nutshell, I don't think opting out works. I'm afraid it's more elusive than we thought. But I don't understand enough about how to block these things, I hope someone has more input.

The best way to avoid third-party tracking cookies is to default to blocking cookies and make exceptions to allow only those cookies you need.

If you want to avoid scorecardresearch.com web bugs, Adblock Plus with a subscription to Easy Privacy will block that.