Malicious Code

No, not the angry faced emoticons. The other kind; Spyware, Adware, Trojans (he hee), Worms, and Viruses.

By now you have all experienced what it is like to have your computer or the computer you rely on infected with a virus. It is a miserable experience that you have most likely learned from and will never be a victim again. Either that or you downloaded and installed so much anti virus software and updates that you can't even get one anymore.

Spyware and Adware is another story. The truth is Spyware and Adware are why there was so much legal fuss over SPAM. Getting Junk email is nothing to get excited about it comes it goes and lets face it you probably even opened a couple. Just because the offer was good.

You moved on. You spend about 3 minutes a day deleting your Spam at most and your done. The real problem was the breech in security. The special offer ad /SPAM that really carried malicious code.

The problem with the reasonably new addition of Spyware and Adware infections is that they are not always easy to detect right away.

The same truths are valid in that if you don't open or download email attachments or file links without a scan or a backup plan you are less likely to have problems. The response of developers to respond and address anti spyware/adware software and scanning for your PC were impressively fast. I would say within 48 hours there was something to remedy the situation.

The problem with slow detection regarding Spyware is that the more time you do your usual thing with spyware codes installed on your PC the more opportunities you are giving someone to gain information on you, your activities, your personal, and secure information. You don't want that.

Adware is more like a virus in that it effects the function of your system releasing numerous popup ads everytime you open a browser and or surf the web.

I do mean numerous the more you try to close them, the more they appear. Your browser becomes useless. I had the assignment a few months back of trying to disinfect a co-workers computer of viruses, adware, and spyware.

The viruses, trojans (hehee), and worms were fairly easy to locate and delete. The adware and spyware was next to impossible. I worked on it for days. I would do a scan it would come up clean then suddenly I would get an alarm from the anti virus that it was back again.

All of these recurring infections came from some spyware adware could that could not be rooted out so easily. And it was falling under the radar of pre-existing anti-virus software.

We finally had to call in a specialist who was able to teach me a few tricks. Of course if you are determined to trust everything you find on the web you will always have problems.

And of course if you are determined to think of computers and the internet as a toy to play with rather than at tool to work with you will always have problems.

Some anti-spyware and anti-adware software like Norton 2005 the newer version of Norton addresses previously overlooked malicious codes like Spyware and Adware while continuing to protect your surfing and email from the usual threats.

Notably there are also:

www.ca.com
www.microsoft.com/spyware
www.lavasoftusa.com
www.redcannon.com
www.webroot.com

These are some resources, if you don't have any funds but an immediate problem there are free tools offered by Panda and still others by running a quick search for free spyware or adware removal tools. I would recommend being just a little familiar with reputable names of anti-virus protection software just so as not to get tripped up and download more problems by a bogus ad or link.

Once your system is clean and in the worst cases you may just have to shell out 70 bucks to call in a local expert. He's there though in every town, county, and city. He's there, he knows his stuff, and he can fix it if you can't.

But once you have a clean scan again; there are some free browser based options for keeping your computer free of further infections of adware and spyware. I do recommend everyone install at least once browser based anti spyware adware tool.

Yahoo! offers one that is easy to install and if you already use Yahoo! services and browser companion tools this is quite compatible and includes a popup blocker.

Other browsers such as Mozilla Firefox have some of these securities preinstalled in their browsers and you need not add additional ones.

A Story,

In the world of web use and computing their are spiders and there are flies. A flies fate is not as attractive but the spiders are well fed.

The moral: figure out what you are and who's side your on before running head first into the unknown.


This just in from Security Enterprise Magazine:

Some P2P resources that can pose a vulnerability for spyware are: Gnutella, Kazaa, and Limewire. As a side note; I have used Kazaa and never had a problem. The biggest problem I have seen is a lack of basic discretion on the part of the user.

Common sense usually applies; also I recommend developing some web smarts (street smarts when using the web). Some of the targeted anti spyware software available admittedly have some flaws. At this point I recommend a hyper suspicious anti virus like Norton 2005 and utilizing 2 free anti spyware/adware downloadable programs (make sure one of them is a browser based tool).