System Security and Privacy Part II

Spyware

In this next part of our Security Information, we will look at Spyware and why you should be concerned about it. Spyware, Malware, Dialers are just a few of a growing number of intrusive bothersome and in some cases, downright dangerous invaders into our personal computers. If you have been surfing the net for some time, you may have picked up, unknowingly, a considerable amount of Spyware. You probably even agreed to it such as installing Browser add-ons such as Comet Cursor, Date Manager, Hotbar, or GoHip just to name a few, then you have Spyware on your computer.

Have you seen this rascal?

No doubt you have seen these little eyes staring at you, offering to save your passwords. But. like the cute little guy above, this program is also Spyware and is a little more intrusive to your system then you would ever want to allow.Although Gator isn't much of a nuisance, it does fall into a group of software known as spyware, sending information about buying habits, etc. for information purposes. For this reason, many people won't use it and want to remove it because it works in the background, using up your system resources, interfering with other processes running on your computer and who needs that?

So what is Spyware really and why is it so bad. Well, number one, it is an unwanted invasion of your privacy and you often relinquish the Spyware to take control of some of your computers functions. Spyware works in the background and takes up RAM, it can cause erratic behaviour, cause programs not to run properly and can slow your computer down. Many people do not realize they are authorizing Spyware when then download and install a free program for example. They do not delve deep enough into the Licencing Agreement and who can understand that stuff anyway? So you might see a cute purple Gorilla named Bonzi Buddy, or a cute orange Aligator named Gator and sure they kids think they are cute, but they can take over parts of your system and make computing miserable. Some of them are very hard to get rid of and web sites such as Annoyances.org provide you with help.

http://www.annoyances.org/

An exerpt from the Lavasoft website:

Most people are familiar with freeware, shareware, cookies, media players, interactive content, and file sharing. What they may not realize is that some of the aforementioned may contain code or components that allow the developers of these applications and tools to actually collect and disseminate information about those using them.

They can track your surfing habits, abuse your Internet connection by sending this data to a third party, profile your shopping preferences, hijack your browser start page or pages, alter important system files, and can do this without your knowledge or permission. The security and privacy implications of these exploits should be quite obvious and undesirable on any system or network!

Do a Google Search for anti-spyware and try some of the online Spyware scanning services out there. They are free and require Internet Explorer 4.0 or later usually, Active X enabled and install a tiny safe "plugin" to be able to do their scanning.

Freddie Recommends:

New From AVG: AVG Antispyware and Advanced Windows Care from Iobit:  2 new programs to help your in your battle with Spyware

AVG Free: best bet to get the latest version is go to www.filehippo.com 

Advanced Windows Care: www.iobit.com

If you visit the Pest Patrol sight, you can follow the links to a free download to monitor your computer for Spyware. The latest version lets you see what is on your PC but you cannot delete the programs/files with it.

http://www.pestpatrol.com/

If you visit the LavaSoft sight, you can download their latest AdAware program and actually intervene to quarantine or delete the Spyware:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Of course, there are many more programs out there and they all seem to work a little differently from one another, some finding more bad programs/files than others. It is quite helpful of some of these companies to provide such helpful and safe software to use for free.

Worst of all are Dialers, programs which actually dial out to a 900 number and you get a nice phone bill afterwards.

These usually are associated with more "ADULT" type sites, but anyone knows that you can be surfing the net quite innocently looking for power tools and an XXX rated site will pop up. Another reason for a good Firewall/filtering and Browser control program for your kids!

We have had many computers come in which are totally inoperable due to so much spyware. In one instance, a computer had 79 open windows from that awful "Messenger" Spyware associated with Windows XP. This computer could not execute any programs. As soon as you closed one window, another popped up with some annoying advertising or message. This service can be disabled in XP but better yet, go to Steve Gibson's Security Site and download

" Shoot the Messenger"

http://grc.com/stm/shootthemessenger.htm

which is a tiny little program to get rid of this annoyance once and for all!

Well that about wraps this session up for now. Keep yourself protected from Spyware by visiting some of the above sites and taking some action on your own to secure your computer and learn more about how to protect yourself. Unfortuneately, this stuff will not go away and there are hundreds and hundreds of these programs growing daily so it is an ongoing battle. The Internet is a great place to find information and share things with other people, but it sure does have it's dark side!