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Attack of the Killer Spyware

If you haven't heard of it yet, you will soon enough. A new "bad boy" is in town, and your virus-protection software won't catch this one. It won't come into your computer from any emails you may or may not open, and you won't really even know it's there. If you are on the Internet, and especially if you are on the Internet via an always-on connection like DSL or satellite, you are open to this attack.

It's called spyware, and it may be on your computer even now. According to the on-line dictionary Webopedia, this software works out of view, watching you, gathering information about you, and sends it back to the person who wrote it all sorts of information about you, like which web pages you've visited, how much time you've spent surfing, possibly even information you have typed into certain web pages, like login information, account numbers, passwords, and so forth.

One of the big signs you may have something like this going on is that all of a sudden, you have a different home page, or a new search toolbar you didn't install. And these critters are sending information back home, slowing your computer down, even causing system crashes. If you have really bad pop-up ad problems, and are even being forced to web sites, like porn sites for example, then you have experienced spyware first-hand.

What's a person to do? This is a place right now where, in my opinion, the bad guys have gotten the upper hand, but we still have tools available to us to help in this battle. Here are a few things you can do:

Use a different browser. Internet explorer, the "blue e" seems to be especially vulnerable to these attacks at the moment. This results from its popularity; every computer with Windows comes with it pre-installed. There are many alternatives, from free to costing a few dollars, such as Netscape and Opera. My current favorite is the Firefox browser, which is free, small, fast, and customizable, and has a really great popup ad blocker. I have deployed this one throughout our office, and so far we have only noticed that it really is faster than Internet Explorer, and works everywhere we have gone on the 'net.
Don't click on that popup ad, or answer "yes" to anything you didn't intend to install! This can begin an install, whether you are told this or not, of spyware. Even if the ad says that you have been hit by spyware (of course you have! Tracking cookies, the most benign form of this, are everywhere on web sites), this doesn't mean that this new wonder-product will remove it. It may be spyware itself. Even if they just say they are going to scan for it, don't give in! Remain strong!
Download these, even if you don't think you're a victim. The first is called Adaware, which is free to individuals, and not very expensive for the "plus" version (about $30 per machine). This one works very quickly, and can remove tracking cookies and deal with most home-page hijackings. The second is called Spybot Search & Destroy, which is also free to individuals, and has a unique donation business model. Spybot takes a little longer to run through all the checks, but will catch different attacks than Adaware will. I run them both; they complement each other. Be sure to keep them both up to date by checking every time you run them. New spyware comes out all the time, and so they are constantly working to figure these attacks out, and are issuing new fixes to their software as often as they can. Oh, and don't run these once, and think you're done. Make it a habit to check your computer at least weekly (You're already doing this for viruses, right?). But - and this is why I think the bad guys are ahead right now - these don't always remove the problem.
Call a computer person you trust. Like me <grin>; but call someone if you are having problems like this, and can't seem to cure it. There have been one or two cases where I have had to re-install windows, but in many cases, I have been able to deal with this problem without such drastic action. I know of several clients who have been told to do just that - reinstall Windows - to cure this problem. But get a professional involved if you continue to have this problem.

I hope to be able to review some of the paid-for spyware checkers in the next few weeks, and will let you know if I find one or two that are especially good, and worth the money. But until then, do not let your guard down! A wise man once said that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, so keep your guard up, and enjoy, in spite of the bad guys.

This is my personal opinion, and is taken from my own experience. Please call me or a computer professional before you do anything drastic!

Bob Edgar, the IT guy at Holmes & Turner