Symptoms of Spies In Your Home
by Dave Clingman
 

(Published Sierra Star, July 28, 2004, pageA5)

Spyware is the fastest growing problem a computer faces today.  Is your computer running slower and slower?  Does your internet connection act strangely?  Do you get popups all the time, even when you are not online?  Has your internet home page changed?  These are a few of the symptoms of a spyware infection.

There are many types of spyware, but they all do basically the same thing:  Spy on your computer activity.  The earliest spyware was adware.  All it did was monitor your internet activity so that it could provide you advertisements related to where you had been on the internet.

The worst type of spyware these days, though, records everything you type on your computer and then sends that information to someone through the internet.  Every username and password you type is recorded.  Whenever you buy anything on the internet, your credit card information is recorded.  Every letter or email that you write is recorded.  Then this information is sent to someone who has no right to this information.

You needn't fear the internet or spyware, however, provided you take a few simple precautions.  Even if spyware weren't the large and growing threat that it is, you should still have antivirus software running on your computer.  Many antivirus programs these days protect against and/or remove spyware.  Symantec's Norton Antivirus program is one of the best (www.symantec.com), and Grisoft offers a free program (www.grisoft.com).

You should also have a firewall on your computer.  A firewall acts as a barrier between your computer and everything on the internet.  It keeps unwanted information and persons from getting into your computer, and it can stop programs and information from getting out of your computer to the internet.  Zone Labs offers a free version of their top rated software (www.zonelabs.com).

Most spyware is aimed at Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the internet browser that comes on all pc's.  If you use a different program for your internet surfing, you will be somewhat less exposed to spyware.  The Mozilla organization makes an excellent and free browser called Firefox (www.mozilla.org).

If spyware has already infiltrated your computer, you may have difficulty getting to anything on the internet.  If you are able to access the internet, though, you can download and run some free utilties that will remove some, but probably not all, of the spyware.  Many free spyware scanners will scan and detect the spyware on your computer, but then will want you to pay for the abililty to remove it.  Ad-Aware will do it all for free, and it is one of the best (www.lavasoft.de).

If you are unable to get onto the internet or cannot access the appropriate sites, you may need professional help.  Most computer technical support people will want you to use the restoration cd's that came with your computer.  Be aware that using this disk will probably wipe everything on your computer and restore it to the way it was when you first bought it, losing all of your data, photos, email, address book, etc.  Others will want to format the hard drive and reinstall, also wiping everything on your computer.  Neither of these procedures is required to remove either spyware or computer viruses.  A competent computer person should be able to remove all of the problem causing programs within an hour or two without resorting to such drastic measures.

For more information, please visit www.clingman.net

Dave Clingman has been configuring, building and repairing computers for foothill residents for twelve years.  He also sets up and trouble shoots networks, as well as designing websites.  His own website can be viewed at www.clingman.com

© 2004