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Mon 24 May, 2004 08:12 am
All of those who know me know that I have taken a lot of steps to keep my computer "clean"..............Virus scan, firewall, Ad aware, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Google Toolbar for pop-ups.
Well, kids, even I got caught. A few days ago, I was planning my trip to New York. I came across a site called sidestep. A download would give you a link to a site where they would find cheap fares, and other travel stuff for you. It puts a column on the side of your screen, and up comes the fares, in price order. I downloaded it. I really liked the service. Very handy.
Pretty neat, huh? All of a sudden my computer slows to a crawl, and some pages don't even load properly. I turned on my trusty Spybot, and lo and behold, it finds sidestep, which it calls a parasite. It is spyware, and tracks my every move.
I had Spybot remove it, and then went to add/remove programs to remove it, for good measure. I then rebooted my computer, and it is now moving along merrily.
The moral of the story:
"There's no such thing as a free lunch!" :wink:
Hi Phoenix, a little tip for you if you don't mind it:
To reduce the potential for spyware infection in the future, I strongly recommend installing SpywareBlaster and SpyWareGuard and IE/Spyad.
SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard are by JavaCool and both are free programs. SpywareBlaster will prevent spyware from being installed and consumes no system resources. SpywareGuard offers realtime protection from spyware installation attempts.
More info and download is available at:
SpywareBlaster:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
SpywareGuard:
http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html
IE/Spyad places over 4000 websites and domains in the IE Restricted list which will severely impair attempts to infect your system. It is free.
More info and download is available at:
IE/Spyad:
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm
Download these programmes then try installing Sidestep again, you'll find that they won't allow it because it is known Crapware. Trust me, I just tried and can't install it because of these nice little helpers.
Nirvana- Thanks for the tip. I will look into it!
Phoenix--
You have my sympathy--the "hook" promised to save you both time AND money. You were double-gulled.
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