For those of you who don't know this, I'm a network administrator for a software company, and I deal with a little of everything, from building PCs to making sure the wide-area network (WAN) functions properly. As a consequence of my job, I deal with -- and am asked about -- spyware on an almost daily basis. Most of us, myself included, have had spyware, or knows someone who has. Everyone agrees that spyware (and it's cousin, adware) is a bad thing.
Since I'm a network admin, it should come as no surprise that I agree that spyware sucks! Spyware takes system and network resources, frustrates users, reduces productivity in a business environment, and detracts from the pleasure of using a PC at home. This doesn't even take into account the problems with fraud that spyware can cause. At the same time though, I have a grudging respect for these spyware writers, because they're good at what they do. Even if I remove a piece of spyware, a lot of times it's got a "keep-alive" program running in the background that checks for the presence of the spyware, and automatically reinstalls the spyware if the keep-alive doesn't detect the spyware. If some of the big vendors could implement this type of health checking (are you paying attention, Microsoft??), the industry would make a huge advancement. I've also got to concede that spyware gives me a little job security.
But that's neither here nor there. Here's what you really want to know... "How do I prevent spyware from getting onto my PC?" I know that most users aren't gonna follow my advice, but here's my two cents...
-Don't download free stuff without reading the license agreement.
-When you visit a web site that says "You need to download so-and-so in order to view the page properly," say NO and see if the page loads. If it doesn't load properly, try again. If it does load properly, you probably just escaped getting a piece of spyware.
-You've heard it time and time again... Don't open attachments in your email, unless you trust the sender. Even then, beware. Even the experts are fooled occasionally.
-Don't click on ANYTHING from a spammer. This includes the "Remove me from this mailing list." While some spammers are really trying to do the right thing with this tag line, most people are using this to verify that you've got a legitimate email address (and they'll pass your email address off to more spammers making things worse), and some of these unsubscribe links are links to spyware.
-Get some anti-spyware software. Most of the free stuff is perfectly acceptable. (Again though, read the license agreement before you install the product.)
-Get a personal firewall.
-Consider using an alternate web browser, such as Firefox. This isn't designed as a slam on Microsoft. The fact is though, that Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominates the web browser market. Since spyware writers want the biggest bang for the buck, they're going to target the web browser with the greatest market share -- Microsoft's Internet Explorer. By using an alternate web browser, you are making yourself safer from most spyware exploits, because the spyware writers aren't targeting the web browser you're using.
Here endeth the lesson.
Since I'm a network admin, it should come as no surprise that I agree that spyware sucks! Spyware takes system and network resources, frustrates users, reduces productivity in a business environment, and detracts from the pleasure of using a PC at home. This doesn't even take into account the problems with fraud that spyware can cause. At the same time though, I have a grudging respect for these spyware writers, because they're good at what they do. Even if I remove a piece of spyware, a lot of times it's got a "keep-alive" program running in the background that checks for the presence of the spyware, and automatically reinstalls the spyware if the keep-alive doesn't detect the spyware. If some of the big vendors could implement this type of health checking (are you paying attention, Microsoft??), the industry would make a huge advancement. I've also got to concede that spyware gives me a little job security.
But that's neither here nor there. Here's what you really want to know... "How do I prevent spyware from getting onto my PC?" I know that most users aren't gonna follow my advice, but here's my two cents...
-Don't download free stuff without reading the license agreement.
-When you visit a web site that says "You need to download so-and-so in order to view the page properly," say NO and see if the page loads. If it doesn't load properly, try again. If it does load properly, you probably just escaped getting a piece of spyware.
-You've heard it time and time again... Don't open attachments in your email, unless you trust the sender. Even then, beware. Even the experts are fooled occasionally.
-Don't click on ANYTHING from a spammer. This includes the "Remove me from this mailing list." While some spammers are really trying to do the right thing with this tag line, most people are using this to verify that you've got a legitimate email address (and they'll pass your email address off to more spammers making things worse), and some of these unsubscribe links are links to spyware.
-Get some anti-spyware software. Most of the free stuff is perfectly acceptable. (Again though, read the license agreement before you install the product.)
-Get a personal firewall.
-Consider using an alternate web browser, such as Firefox. This isn't designed as a slam on Microsoft. The fact is though, that Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominates the web browser market. Since spyware writers want the biggest bang for the buck, they're going to target the web browser with the greatest market share -- Microsoft's Internet Explorer. By using an alternate web browser, you are making yourself safer from most spyware exploits, because the spyware writers aren't targeting the web browser you're using.
Here endeth the lesson.
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