Screensaver Does Not Uninstall

By terry Leave a Comment

Sometimes free screensavers, smilies and other “freebie” programs aren’t the best choice from a security point of view.

Some install adware or spyware along with them — not all, but some do. Always do some research with Google and/or check with some of your computer-savvy friends before installing.

An easy way to check is a search on Google. Search for the name of the program, in quotes if its a multi-word name, and the word spyware or the word adware.

If you don’t, you may have a challenge cleaning up your system.

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Filed Under: Anti-Adware, Anti-spam, Anti-Spyware, Windows XP

How many spyware items are infecting your computer?

By terry Leave a Comment

Spyware or adware items are continually infecting computers. Most computers have no protection from them. But, more frightening is the frequency of the infections.

From the InfosecWriters web site, “According to a 2004 survey by America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance, 91% of users questioned were familiar with the term spyware. Only 53% believed their computers were infected, but a scan found that 80% of their PCs had some type of spyware installed on them.” It goes on to say, “…The average number of spyware components per computer was 93 with one computer having well over a thousand.”

What is Spyware?

Butte College (www.bctv.butte.edu/support/spyware.html) offers this definition:

“The term ‘spyware’ is broadly defined as any program that gets into your computer without permission and hides in the background while it makes unwanted changes to your user experience.
Spyware is generally not designed to damage your computer. The damage it does is more a by-product of its main mission, which is to serve you targeted advertisements or make your browser display certain sites or search results.
At present, most spyware targets only the Windows operating system (Internet Explorer).”

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Filed Under: Anti-Adware, Anti-Spyware

Defending Your Computer with WinPatrol

By terry Leave a Comment

One of the tools in my computer defense arsenal is a free program called WinPatrol, which lets me have easy access to control automatically starting programs and a lot more.

Actually, I’ve registered WinPatrol, so I’m running “WinPatrol Plus” with access to their program information database.

I used the free version for several years before I broke down and bought the Plus license. At the time, the only difference was that the Plus gave only access to their program information.

The change was an epiphany. It was like going from a VCR to a Home Theater PC (or even a TiVo®. Like going from dialup Internet access to a cable or DSL connection.

WinPatrol will monitor my computer, if I let it (and I do!), to allow me to block changes that are made to certain Internet Explorer and Windows settings, as well as allowing me to block programs from starting automatically.

Does your computer start up slowly? Do you have a bunch of icons in the Windows Status Bar? Each of those programs took some time to start, each takes some of your RAM all the time and some CPU cycles to monitor whatever they are monitoring, and each takes some time to shut down, too.

Is your computer slow? If your anti-virus and anti-spyware (your ARE running both, aren’t you?) are up to date, the problem usually falls into one or both of these categories:

  • There are too many slightly-valuable or useless programs running all the time
  • Not enough RAM

WinPatrol Plus can give you the information and ability to control those extra programs — and speed up your computer in the process!

WinPatrol is free. WinPatrol Plus is $30 — but, during September’06, the author has made the “Plus” information available to everyone free of charge. Give it a test drive. I think you’ll like it.


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Filed Under: Anti-Adware, Anti-Spyware, Free Trials, System Control
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