Category: Spyware
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Yahoo! now employing Spyware tactics!
I read with interest a post on Angsuman’s site this morning that Yahoo!’s new Instant Messanger application, when installed using the default settings on your system, will change your systems settings and install various applications on your hard drive unasked. A News.com article on the new release lists the changes: By accepting Yahoo’s “typical” installation…
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Microsoft to start selling anti-virus services
The BBC are running a story about Microsoft starting an anti-virus and security service for PC users. According to the BBC’s site The service is designed to automatically patch-up security holes, as well as beef up anti-virus and spyware protection. It will also help maintain the health of a user’s PC generally Is it just…
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Firefox is less secure than Internet Explorer?
Fred Langa has written one of the most misleading and ill-informed articles I have read on the web in quite some time. In this misleading and ill-informed article, Fred posits that changing to Firefox–or Mozilla, or any similar software–because “it’s more secure” is a dangerous misconception; and demonstrably false Incredibly, Fred is trying to tell…
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Blogs used to infect PCs with spyware and malware
I note a story on the BBC Technology site which says Spyware and Malware authors have copped on to the popularity of blogs and are now using them as vectors to host spyware and malware to infect people lured to the blog. I’m surprised it took so long for them to come up with this.…
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Who writes Spyware and why
I read a very interesting article on Livejournal by Franklin on how, when his partners PC was infected by Spyware, he tracked down who was making money from the Spyware and reached some very interesting conclusions about who is distributing Spyware and why. One of the interesting aspects of the article, for me, is when…
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How to rid a PC of viruses and malware
My parents have asked me to look at their neighbours PC – it has started ‘acting funny’ and “they think it might have a virus”, I was told. “Uh oh”, I thought. Here we go again. If you are the local IT guru you know this feeling well. And, is it just me or is…
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Internet Explorer use falling further still
I note that eWeek are reporting that usage of Microsoft’s internet Explorer has fallen another 1.5% to 90.3%. Of course, what is amazing, to me, is that over 90% of people are still using internet Explorer! Still, I shouldn’t complain, a lot of my business these days is coming from people whose PC’s have been…
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Security center could not change your automatic updates settings
I was working on a friends PC the other day. It had Windows XP Home on it and several viruses! After cleaning out the viruses, I updated the PC to XP SP 2 to get the security advantages that the service pack confers. However, on re-starting the PC after the install, the Security Centre gave…