Spyware.....

[Sundance300]

You have the latest antivirus and a pop-up blocker, what more do you need.

Well, there's a new threat out there. Spy-ware. Just look it up on google and read.....scary stuff. Not only does it invade your privacy, it change your settings, slows down your computer, and can be worse than a Trojan virus (some cases it can be a trojan virus). And your virus scanner* won't pick up on this hitchhikers.
I got the pop-ups saying "You might be infected with Spyware!". Didn't think much of it. Until my computer took 5 minutes to open My Documents.... The number of processes I had running at startup was over 30....should have been 13 at most. Downloaded an anti-spyware program and deleted over 122 items. Ran way faster.
Talked to my friend who does networking for the state about this. He told me to have two or more spyware removers as the people who do it are generally nonprofit and have lives. Therefore they don't commit their who lives to it and don't find them all. He recommended Ad-aware and Spybot S&D. I use both, love ad-ware but spybot seems a little touchy.

On my quest to rid myself of a spyware that had evaded both Ad-aware and Spybot I found this lovely little site that has a range of useful programs to combat spyware. There's some free programs mixed in there. I haven't gone completely through this, but the two I recommended are in the spyware list.

SpywareInfo


I hope this helps you guys, safe surfin!


*I have been told by a friend that the newer Norton or McAffee have spy-ware detectors.

[Jay]

I got the pop-ups saying "You might be infected with Spyware!".

I have seen many types of similar popups. Some say "You are infected with Spyware!". Some will even give what browser you are using and your Internet address with the message. Do not be fooled by these popups. A popup cannot detect spyware. Something has to run on your computer in order to do the detection. Browsers will not allow these programs to run without your permission. All of these popups are in fact Trojan Horses... These popups are trying to get you to download Spyware software claiming they are Spyware checkers. (There are some popups that are legitimate advertisements that might say something like "You might be infected with spyware. Run our program to see if you are or not." These are different.)

However, the rest of the info in Sundance's post is correct. Spyware is the number one cause of computer problems today. Even those that are up front and tell you what they are doing (always providing some benefit in return) often cause problems. Besides collecting info about your preferences, they are usually not written well and will download newer versions of themselves, often without getting rid of the previous version. So they tend to multiply, using up more and more of your computer's resources.

Thanks for the info, Sundance!

[Robbieb]

i had spyware/adware on my pc its the most anoying thing spybot ad-adware spy sweeper norton 2004 none of them coulkd get rid of it i had to redo my pc i got so anoyed by it