Spyware

[MaxBurn]

When do you think spyware is going to get some recognition as being as destructive as some viruses? A lot of the viruses lately are fairly tame in what they do it seems, and I think it's probably on the same level as spyware in information gathering and stealing don't you think? What about the lost time, crashing and stuff with spyware?

Maybe I am just getting frustrated at all the people coming in saying my computer is really slow, my home page won't change from this search thing, have lots of extra tool bars and popups.

 

[Tea]

Amongst people who know what they are doing (e.g., you, me, others here), that recognition came some time ago. Broader recognition amongst (a) the great unwashed mass of users and (b) the major corporates .... that's a good (and very interesting) question.

The majors have a problem with conflict of interest - what they want is for them to be able to spy on users, but no-one else. But even they admit the problem if pressed. Microsoft, for example, admited in public that 50% of Windows crashes are caused by spyware a while back. (Of course, they did not admit that it was their hopeless security model that makes it all possible.)

 

[mangyDOG]

Just of interest, Ad-Aware, everyones favorite spyware nuker can cause problems restarting windows after running a scan. There is a fix for this, see my thread in Tech Support...


cheers,
mangyDOG

 

[Buck]

Sort of a catch-22 with Mangy one's Ad-aware problem, I do run other spyware programs, such as CWShredder, Spyassassin, and Spybot, but Ad-aware always finds spyware that the others haven't! Nonetheless, I have installed Spyware Blaster as recommended by Time, this seems to work very well at the front-line of this spyware battle, thus almost eliminating the need for scans after the fact.

 

[MaxBurn]

I don't know it just seems to be getting worse lately (bad week).

We typically throw AddAware, Spybot, and Spy Sweeper at it and then CWSShredder if things percist.

I have never had a problem with my home box other than some cookies and stuff, I just can't understand how some people's systems get so bad. Even my parents machine comes up fairly clean and they know jack about security and what not to click on. Any machine that kids use though, forget it. Wonder where the heck it is that they are going?

 

[GIANT]

When do you think spyware is going to get some recognition as being as destructive as some viruses?

Spyware has definitely been on MY radar screen (and several other people I know) for a good 3 or more years. Comet Cursor, Gator, and others were some of the first commonly distributed spywares that began to get non-computer-professional people's attention.

I think that only recently a small sliver of the general public has become aware of the nefarious effects of such software.

 

[Tea]

http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=68 may be worth a visit. It's a list of bogus anti-spyware products. Seems, on a quick first glance, to be legit.

 

[Adcadet]

I built a PC for my parents for Christmas. I installed an antivirus program and Zone Alarm (free version). Last week I was over there and decided to run Ad Aware to see what came up. To my suprprize the only stuff that showed up was tracking cookies. Now, either my parents are among the more educated computer users (not really), or the combination of a firewall (which they are comfortable using to deny incoming or outgoing traffic) and their use of Mozilla (their favorite browser) is working.

Hmm....they prefer Mozilla....maybe they are more savvy than I give them credit for.

 

[blakerwry]

yeah, this use of IE is terrible. Mozilla is so much a better browser, it's hard to believe it isnt more popular. Sometimes I show people moz and they just dont get it... they dont even get why there would be anything other than IE....

 

[Tea]

To convert even the stupidest user to a Mozilla fan:

Install Mozilla.

Edit > Preferences > Privace & Security > Popup Windows

Ask "Do you like popups?" (Everyone says "no", "hell no!" or "I hate the bloody things!")

Ask "Would you like to never, ever have another popup ever again?" (They say "huh? You mean I can get rid of them? Really? No more popups?"

You say "One tick. No more popups. Ever."

Everyone likes that. I mean everyone. Right down to the complete morons. We do this with every single computer we work on (as otherwise we'll only have it back to clean the spyware off again), and so far every single customer loves it.

Somewhere along the way we also mention that it's 6 years since IE had any updates of significance. We remind people how long 6 years is in the computer industry, that Internet Explorer is on the same technology level as the Pentium 166.

 

[Tea]

Oh, a clarification: I don't mean that everyone stays a Mozilla fan. Some people are so terminally stupid that they get home and don't realise that they can get onto the Internet without clicking the blue E-thing.

In the end, we don't mind. They end up coming back. Computer slow, system crashing. We clean the spyware off again, put another $55 in the till.

Stupidity is its own punishment.

 

[ddrueding]

I've been installing firefox on everyone's PCs and removing any visible links to IE. Just tell them to use the new Icon.

 

[e_dawg]

I have been using Firefox lately at work with the mouse gestures and multiple tabs extensions to test my HTML for compliance with non-IE browsers; it's been a pleasant surprise. I haven't tried any of the recent versions of Moz, but I assume it's been improved over the earlier versions. Have they adopted the standard Alt-D convention for entering URL's like IE and Firefox yet? I know you can edit the chrome config file, but it's a bit of a pain.

I still use myIE2 as my browser of choice, however, and it has never let me down. Tabbed browsing, mouse gestures, URL aliasing, Flash blocker (yes!), selective content/domain/path blocking, and of course, pop-up blocking.

Anyways, I don't think you can point the finger solely at the browser for the Adware problem. Vigilant computing is really a state of mind. You wouldn't go down a dark alley at night by yourself, nor would you walk down a street in south central LA and taunt the homies. The same should apply to suring the Internet. It's a dangerous place, and telling someone to use Mozilla instead of IE isn't going to solve the problem. It only reduces the frequency and masks the problem.

What was that about teaching a man to fish instead of giving him some bread?

 

[Buck]

Can't the infamous blue E be remapped?