SPYWARE – A CAUTIONARY TALE

Dec 2, 2004 | security

A columnist for the Los Angeles Times wrote the story of his experiences when his computer was hijacked by adware and spyware. It’s a good summary of the pervasiveness of the problem and the difficulty of recovering once the bad stuff is on your system....

KAZAA/SKYPE & ADWARE

Dec 1, 2004 | security

As I noted a couple of days ago, Kazaa has released of a new version of its software bundled with Skype for Internet telephony. Don’t do it! They’ve gone completely over the top on bundling adware and unwanted crap. Here’s a column today by a tech...

SERVICE PACK 2 AND “TV MEDIA” ADWARE

Oct 6, 2004 | security, WinXP

I’ve recently discovered “TV Media” on the Add-Remove Programs list of several computers. It’s just the usual adware, installed on a computer to generate popups popups popups. Like many of the other adware/spyware programs, it doesn’t...

DON’T INSTALL CRAP ON YOUR COMPUTER

Sep 16, 2004 | security, WinXP

You can still screw up your computer after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2. Web sites might ask permission to install “ActiveX Controls” or other kinds of programs. Trustworthy web sites can use ActiveX controls to offer valuable services; you should...

SYMANTEC AND WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 2

Sep 6, 2004 | security, WinXP

Symantec is dragging its feet about allowing its programs to communicate with the new Windows Security Center – resulting in the balloon in the lower right corner of the screen that says your computer “might be at risk.” I don’t know why...

SPAM CONFUSES ME

Aug 28, 2004 | mail, security, spam

Outlook 2003 does a remarkable job of filtering spam. (Make sure you get the latest updates from Office Update.) It’s no surprise that the spammers are trying to get messages through the antispam filters with new techniques to conceal the true nature of their...