Claria (fka Gator), which says it has exited the much-maligned adware business, has riased $40 million in funding…Softbank America, Rogers Communications, Asia Pacific Ventures and Sand Hill Capital contributed to the round.

It also landed a joint venture with Yahoo’s Japanese division (which of course is co-owned by Softbank).

Claria now wants to clean up its name: The company wants to use that experience to deliver advertising and content related to things consumers are already interested in…and as part of that, it has launched PersonalWeb, a glorified personalized website. The site will deliver editorial content based on the user’s preferences.

Yep, that will be a home run, for sure…and yes, I am buying CNET.

More details in the release.

Meanwhile, Claria has already announced plans to sell its ad-supported software. Up for sale are the software tools whose free download was supported by the GAIN ad network, including the ScreenScenes screensaver software and the DashBar search toolbar.