Is There a Spy in Your Computer?

You may have inadvertently invited a spy into your computer.
There you are, shopping on line and little did you know it
you caught a spy or two.

The spy is known by a few names "spyware, adware, trojans".
Whatever it’s called, what it does, once it's in your
computer, is start taking statistical information as you
travel the Internet. It may also send you pop-up ads and
slow down your computer. Wired.com,
http://www.wired.com/news echnology/0,1282,49960,00.html,
mentioned it "could even collect your credit card
information". According to “OptOut”,
http://grc.com/optout.htm, one spyware program attacks your
e-mail signature file.

How did you invite the spy?

Maybe you've gone to a website you knew and enjoyed only to
find that it was purposefully purchased by a pornography
site. The new company may have imbedded "spyware" or
"adware" into that new home page and now, in many cases
without your knowledge, it's on your computer, too.

Maybe you've downloaded a free or paid program and as part
of the package you were provided with an added bonus – a
spyware program.

Maybe you agreed to it! You could have downloaded a program
and checked the box that allows that program to take
statistics from you "for their own use".

What you can do?

A firewall program should let you know when you're on a
website and a program is about to download. Note the word
"should".

Or you can learn all about spyware, download an anti-spyware
program, and schedule time in your weekly calendar to run
the program. What I originally found on my 18-month-old
computer were: 2 porn and 42 other spyware programs. A week
later, I had 4 new spyware programs appear.

To further reduce the amount of spam that ends up in your
e-mail, create a "rule" or "filter” that will take any
e-mail containing "certain adult words of your choosing”
and send those e-mails directly to your delete or spam
folder.

Did you know that you can opt-out of some e-mail ad's and
tele-marketing calls, too.

Definition of spyware and adware
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definitionsSearchResults/1,289878,sid9,00.html?query=spyware

Learn about protecting your computer from s*pam and spyware
http://www.unwantedlinks.com/

Use this link to check for spyware on new software before
you download it.
http://www.spychecker.com/

Free anti-spyware program. Remember to use it at least
monthly and don’t delete the items you really want!
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Spyware UK - Lots of good information
http://www.spyware.co.uk/

Opt out of doubleclick's ads
http://www.doubleclick.com/us/corporate/privacy/privacy/ad-cookie/default.asp

More lists you can opt-out of this link does not work
http://www.networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.asp

Removing your e-mail, address and telephone numbers from
lists.
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html#mail

Anti-Spam Tools
http://www.webattack.com/freeware/comm/fwspam.shtml

24/7 Phone number that removes you from credit card offers
that go through the four most popular credit agencies.
Listen to all options before hitting a key. #3 is the best
option as it removes you "forever" (well till you change
your phone number). Don't forget to get your cell phone
number removed, too. Once you call them, they will mail you
a confirmation letter, that you mail back tot hem. Call toll
free 888-567-8688.