2 ways to combat spyware on your Windows PC

If you download files, you probably have spyware hidden away on your PC, reporting back to headquarters, every day you are online.

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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

2 ways to combat spyware on your Windows PC

Dec. 20 , 2000

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2001 Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2001, The Syracuse Newspapers

   Tis the season to be spying.
   With millions of computer users taking a break from school and work, the winter holiday period is the year's busiest time for Internet downloading. And that means it's a big time for purveyors of spyware. Spyware is software that spies on you. It reports back on your activities - what Internet sites you visit, what files you download, that kind of thing - as a kind of perverse penalty for your trust. Usually, spyware is offered as "free" software - but, of course, when you pay with your privacy, the cost is very high.
   I've written about spyware before, but I've had the feeling that most of you aren't really getting the point. Maybe you think you'd never download and install spyware, so there's no reason for you to care.
   Oh, but there is. Spyware shows up in the most unlikely places. If you'd done any Internet downloading, if you've installed more than just a few programs off the Internet, you're probably being spied on every time you go online.
   You probably have spyware hidden away on your PC, reporting back to headquarters - to the marketing companies who collect this data without your knowledge or permission - every day you are online.
   This week I'll explain how you can combat spyware. Read this carefully and tell your friends and others in your family to read it, too.
   As far as I know, all the spyware currently in use works only on Windows PCs. This doesn't mean the bad guys are picking on Windows; it just means Windows is the obvious target. Most personal computers are running Windows.
   Spyware works like this. You download a program that sounds like just what you've been looking for - a download manager, maybe, or an MP3 jukebox. You don't have to pay anything for it. It either masquerades as a freeware program or is presented as "adware" - a program that shows you advertising while it runs.
   When you install the downloaded file, the installation software also places a hidden program somewhere on your computer.
   The hidden program monitors your activities in whatever way the spyware authors want.
   The companies who create and plant spyware on your PC say they're grossly misunderstood. They say they always get permission. In other words, whenever you install a spyware-enabled program you're shown a statement that asks if it's OK if someone spies on you.
   Right?
   Of course not.
   There are two good spyware-detection programs for Windows PCs. They're both free. You should run both of them every day.
   The first is OptOut, written by Steve Gibson. Get it from www.grc.com/optout.htm .
   The second is Ad-aware, written the programmers at a German company, Lavasoft. Get it from www.lavasoft.de .
   Both programs quickly detect and remove spyware on your Windows PC.