Earthlink and Spyware
February 7th, 2005 11:21 pm

We have all faced it. Spyware on our PCs is getting to be a bigger problem each day as the heathen’s that live in the underbelly of the internet search for new ways to steal our personal information.

Earthlink just released stats saying that scans of its user’s computers revealed that average user had multiple “spyware installations” – 28 per computer on average.

That’s interesting, and not because it shows the extent and reach of spyware. If Earthlink was scanning their customer’s computers for spyware (even if it was trying to help them remove them) and recording that information and sending it back to Earthlink, doesn’t that qualify as spyware, also?

Posted in General, Technology by Mark
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Travis
February 8th, 2005 12:16 am

I work at ResNet for CalPoly, and spyware has surpassed viruses for cause of computer problems. Its unbelievable. I’ve had to tell people to flat out reformat because I can’t work on their machine because of the spyware. We had a user last week who had over 95 thousand instances on their computer. Its bullshit that its legal to install software on a user’s machine without their knowledge or permission.

akasha
February 8th, 2005 3:59 pm

I just had to reinstall XP on my computer because my firewall failed and a whole host of spyware and spam infiltrated my system. It caused so many problems. So many executables embedded themselves in my hard drive and couldn’t be deleted! So, I had to go out and buy some anti-spyware software (Spy Sweeper). I just hope it works. I’m truly fed up with Microsoft. I’m going to get me a Mac!

Kevin
February 9th, 2005 1:41 pm

I agree with Travis. Spyware should be illegal. Isn’t it kind of like putting a tap on someone’s phone?

Travis
February 9th, 2005 3:14 pm

SpyBot and Adaware work best, and they’re free. All the free anti spyware programs are better than anything you pay for. Just boot to safe mode, update and run spybot and adaware and clean up msconfig and it gets rid of spyware pretty good.

Alex Ezell
February 9th, 2005 4:04 pm

Microsoft’s anti-spyware application is pretty good. It used to be called “Giant Anti-Spyware” before Microsoft gobbled them up.

Alex Ezell
February 12th, 2005 1:47 pm

It seems that a new trojan is targeting MS AntiSpyware application. Uh-oh.

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