Evil Free WordPress Themes

I've noticed a common thread in the free WordPress theme collections out there, embedded links for sometimes very strange products. It's done by adding the links to the footer, sometimes in plain html other times in encrypted php code. The latest I've found is the most elaborate. Someone, not sure who does this, the original designer or beyond, but they took the sidebar options, wrapped that php code and encrypted it. If you're thinking ahead, you're correct, the template is void of allowing any changes to what is shown in the side bar.

Here is that a typical footer looks like. This is the actual example of the wrapped sidebar:
eval(base64_decode('Pz4g77u/PGRpdiBjbGFzcz0iZm9vdGVyIj4NCg0KCQk8ZGl2IGNsYXNzPS
JnYm94Ij4NCg0KIDxiciAvPg0KDQo8P3BocCBnZXRfc2lkZWJhcigpOyA/Pg0KDQoNCg0KPGRpdi
BzdHlsZT0iY2xlYXI6Ym90aCI+PC9kaXY+DQoNCg0KDQo8L2Rpdj4NCg0KCTxwPjw/cGhwIHRo
ZV90aW1lKCdZJyk7ID8+IDw/cGhwIGJsb2dpbmZvKCduYW1lJyk7ID8+IC4gIFdvcmRQcmVzc
yAuIDw/cGhwIGlmKGlzX2hvbWUoKSkgOiAPjxhIGhyZWY9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cuY2lnYXJldHRl
c21peC5jb20vIiB0aXRsZT0iQ2lnYXJldHRlcyBNaXgiPkNpZ2FyZXR0ZXMgTWl4PC9hPjw/cGhw
IGVuZGlmOyAgPz48L3A+DQoNCg0KDQoNCjwvZGl2Pg0KDQo8L2Rpdj4NCg0KPD9waHAgd3Bf
Zm9vdGVyKCk7ID8+DQoNCjwvYm9keT4NCg0KPC9odG1sPiA8Pw=='));


This is only a speed bump. If you really like that theme you have a couple options. You can:

1. Search for other version of the theme with out the garbage (usually in the footer.php).
2. View the source code for the page, then copy that into the footer, after you've changed to to info that you like. To do this make sure you know where the footer.php starts and stops. You can add your own flags to insolate the area.
3. Get a footer from another template, more advanced but an option. Just make sure to line up the .css accordingly.

So, next time you get a free theme, check all of the code for hidden gems, you never know what you're gong to find.