what is spyware ?

[Bigblue07]

i just saw a pop up that said where i lived and what computer program i use (kinda scary) and said my computer has spywarethat tracks my every move. is this true ? if so how do i get rid of it ?
thanks,
your neighborhood friendly lo-tech guy.

[sinton66]

Yes, it is true. As you log onto various sites, some of them will upload spyware files to your computer. Most of these are in the form of "cookies". You can manually rid your computer by going into your settings and deleting cookies.
There are several good spyware cleaners on the market. One of the better is "Spy Sweeper" by Webroot. There is a free downloadable program called "Adaware" or something like that. The free ones do help, but in reality may actually be a spyware program themselves.

<small>[ February 07, 2004, 10:58 PM: Message edited by: sinton66 ]</small>

[Pudlugger]

Yeah, all that is true. When I recently downloaded an anti-spyware program on my antique Dell pII 233 with Windows 95 the system crashed on internet connectivity. I now own a new HP laptop, way cool!. Oh yeah, my Dell is now part of an an artificial reef in the gulf. :D

[crzyjournalist03]

my school provides us with Adaware and it works pretty well...it really cuts down on the number of pop-ups you get too

[sinton66]

Click on this link and it will take you to Anti-Spyware discussions/suggested solutions.

http://www.intranetjournal.com/spyware/preventsoft.html

<small>[ February 07, 2004, 11:27 PM: Message edited by: sinton66 ]</small>

[44INAROW]

crzyjournalist03:
my school provides us with Adaware and it works pretty well...it really cuts down on the number of pop-ups you get tooAdaware has certainly helped the pop-ups on my computer too. Just an FYI - I also installed additional Firewall stuff. Son came in that night and went to get on MSN and it wouldn't connect - went on for several days, I called my tech guy we discovered the Firewall was blocking MSN. All we had to do was unclick and now it works.

[sinton66]

From personal experience, I can tell you that an "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". I'm reading there are some preventative programs on the market now. My Spy Sweeper does a good job getting rid of all of them, but it takes about 30 minutes to do a deep scan on my 525MHZ computer. The older and slower computers could take much more time. Might be worth it to check into prevention.

[SintonFan]

Spybot-Search and Destroy is, in my experience, the best out there. It picked up stuff adaware couldn't find.
.
.
*IMPORTANT*
If you ever get a pop-up or something like that that tells you that you have spyware on your computer, DON'T CLICK ON IT! That is just a solicitation trying to sell you something more often than not. Some of those programs are spyware themselves even though that is what they advertise to remove. Just some FYI.

[Adidas410s]

SintonFan:
Spybot-Search and Destroy is, in my experience, the best out there. It picked up stuff adaware couldn't find.
.
.
*IMPORTANT*
If you ever get a pop-up or something like that that tells you that you have spyware on your computer, DON'T CLICK ON IT! That is just a solicitation trying to sell you something more often than not. Some of those programs are spyware themselves even though that is what they advertise to remove. Just some FYI.So are both of these programs free or just Adaware? I want to know which one is the best one to get! Thanks.

[3afan2K3]

here is a link for ad-aware (http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10214379.html?tag=list)

28,762,655 downloads

[SintonFan]

The techies use Spybot. :) They use it for a reason. Spybot is free for one. They(spybot) ask for donations but that is optional as is the policy of all freeware. I used it on my mother's computer and found out that the HP utility that comes on her HP computer is spyware. Neat, huh?
Here's the link: Spybot download (http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10194058.html?tag=lst-0-1)
Spybot has been downloaded from this site 11.5 million times.