Spyware

[Roger Bielen]

In one of the posts over the past week or two there were recommendations for sites to download free spyware. I neglected to copy these and can't find them. Would the posters please relist these. I don't have a problem I'm aware of yet, this is for preventive maintenance.

Thanks

[cbojanower]

The one I use on my PC is adaware, its free for home use. It's was even recommended in a Wall Street Journal article a few weeks ago.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Scroll to the bottom for the download

[spankybird]

This wasn't posted but it works well and is also free. It was provided to me from our MIS dept at work

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/CWShredder.exe

When it ask you about FIX, say yes.
tom

[Roger Bielen]

Thanks guys.

[Anonymous]

The Question that I can't understand is WHO IS SPYING and WHY?

[Dave Farquhar]

Spyware is used to gather information for marketers, and/or to send more popup ads to you. If they figure out that I'm going to trains.com, they know that an ad featuring a sale on Lionel trains might be more effective than to someone who spends all day reading marthastewart.com. They'll send that person ads for bedsheets or something.

If that weren't bad enough, a lot of these programs that do this are very sloppily written, so they do a nice job of crashing your web browser, slowing down your computer, and causing other problems.

Some spyware apps are installed by free downloads, and the author of the program gets a kickback. A number of popular programs have been distributed with spyware, such as Kazaa. Weatherbug used to as well (I don't know if it still does). Some are installed by unscrupulous web sites when you visit them.

The best ways to avoid spyware are to use Netscape instead of Internet Explorer (Netscape lacks the ability to install software when you visit a website, or at least its abilities in this area are much more limited than IE's) and not to install free software unless it comes from a big company that has a record of not spying (such as Microsoft or AOL) or the software is distributed under the GNU General Public License or another similar open-source license that allows any programmer to examine the program's code. No spyware author is going to distribute spyware like that, because the first programmer who finds it will rip it out and release his own version without it.

Clear as mud?

[Dave Farquhar]

None of the spyware apps detect and remove absolutely everything. I always run at least Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy when someone brings me an infested computer (I fix computers for a living). Usually I'll run a third one for good measure. (I like Bazooka, but if you're not comfortable spelunking into the system registry, it's not for you.) I still won't bet my life I caught everything even after running three, but chances are good I eliminated 99% of them and afterwards it feels like a new computer.

[cbojanower]

All day long I work on WIndows PC, and half the calls I get are about system slowness and crashes which we usually trace back to Spyware of one sort or another. Yesterday we had one machine that Adaware had over 900 hits on.

Tonight when I left work we had the beginnings of a new virus spreading throughout our 20,000 user base, all courtesy of the flaws in Windows and outlook and it was so new that Norton couldnt detect it yet.

I am so glad that when I get home I read the forum via my Mac

No spyware, no virus' no trojans

[Anonymous]

I use Spybot s&d and Spy Sweeper. Like Dave says one picks up things the other misses.


Angelo