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February, 2003
Say 'No' to Spyware The term spyware is becoming commonplace in our society. Spyware (and the removal thereof) accounts for 50% of my business these days. It is not uncommon for our clients to spend in excess of $100.00 to de-infest their computer of spyware from time-to-time. So what exactly IS Spyware? Many people mistakenly use the term spyware to describe programs that monitor what is done on a computer, enabling a parent or spouse to spy on the unsuspecting user. This, in actuality, is what is properly referred to as a 'keystroke logging' program - not spyware. Spyware is a generic term for a small program or application that has more than one purpose. The first and most obvious purpose is some function that apparently benefits the user in some way, such as music downloading or an email or browser enhancement. This is what enticed the user to download and install the product in the first place. The second, less obvious function of spyware is to transmit information about the user and his/her activities on the Internet back to the company that produced the product. The resulting data is collected and collated and used to trigger ads on your computer, or even sold to marketing firms for various purposes. These applications are almost always surreptitiously installed on the system, indicating that spyware companies know how the public feels about such functions. They reason (rightfully) that the only realistic way to ensure its widespread implementation is to keep the end-user from discovering it's true purpose. While most spyware contains disclaimers that inform the user of their intentions, few people ever read the fine print - or comprehend the ramifications of accepting these conditions. Take a close look at your computer's System Tray - that's the far right-hand edge of the Taskbar - the gray bar that runs along the bottom (in most cases) of your screen if you're using any version of Windows newer than 3.11. At the far right edge you should have a clock display. Everything to the left of the clock is an application running in the background. In addition to these 'obvious' applications, there may be several 'hidden' applications that do not display themselves in the System Tray. Each of these applications uses up a small part of your system resources. More on this later. While some of these applications may be valid, useful (even necessary) tools, such as Anti-Virus software, volume controls, CD-Rom detectors, etc., more often than not, these icons and hidden applications represent resource-hogging programs -- some of them malicious in nature. Some are simply pre-loaders for various applications, most of which are unnecessary, but not malevolent. More and more often, though, what lurks beneath the surface is spyware. When
you go to a website offering spyware, a standard dialog box appears with
the following text: "Do you want to install and run (Comet Cursor,
Bonzi Buddy, Gator, GoHip, etc.) [live link appears here to read their
privacy policy]… What
if the dialog box said: "Do you want to install and run (Comet Cursor,
Bonzi Buddy, Gator, GoHip, etc.), being fully cognizant of the fact that
we will deplete valuable resources on your computer, force-feed you advertising
you do not want and eavesdrop on everything you do from now on -- and
collect it for purposes we'd rather not discuss…" As if depleting your resources and collecting private information about you isn't bad enough, there are some other functions dropped into your system by certain spyware products you might not be aware of. Distributed Computing is the ability to use processor power from multiple computers around the world, connected via the Internet to perform calculations or run programs. This creates the effect of a giant supercomputer by using a small percentage of computing power from each computer with the appropriate program installed. Seti@home is a classic example where individuals elect to install this program on their computer to assist in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. While Seti@home is a voluntary program, there are numerous programs implementing functions in your computer that are quite involuntary. The best current example is KaZaa - the music downloading application so popular with today's teens and young adults. KaZaa and BDE (stands for Brilliant Digital Entertainment) have partnered to include Dlder (defined as a Trojan by Anti-Virus companies) with the download of KaZaa. This creates a distributed computing network called Altnet. Another popular download which includes Dlder, ClickTillUWin, tracks the websites that its players visit so that the game can display advertising targeted to a user's interests. Anti-Virus companies, however, view this product differently. The most annoying and difficult-to-remove product that falls into this category currently is Xupiter. If you have mistakenly installed this program (which frequently cripples or crashes your computer), removing it can be a nightmare! F-Secure (a well-respected Anti-Virus vendor) said if users access a web page in a password-protected site that stores any user information into the web address, ClickTillUWin might pass this data back to ClickTillUWin in unencrypted form. Dlder tracks URLs visited by the user and posts them to a website. Additionally, the Trojan opens a security hole on infected computers by downloading and running executable files. BearShare, LimeWire, KaZaa and Grokster all deliver this same Trojan to your system when installed - and you won't be informed when it is activated. You will be losing your privacy and be oblivious to it. Your computer will be slowing down and you won't know the reason. Remember the saying, "There's no free lunch"? If you're getting something for 'free' -someone else is paying for it. If someone else is paying for your 'toys', you can bet they're getting something for it in the form of advertising -- or data -- or even free use of the processor in your computer. If all of this sounds scary to you, it should. It is very difficult to remove some of these critters from your system once they've been installed, so the best approach is not to install them at all. Aside from not installing the programs in the first place, the best way to avoid spyware is to download Ad-Aware or Spybot, free spyware removal programs. You can download Ad-Aware from the Lavasoft website at www.lsfileserv.com. For either of these programs to be effective, they must be updated periodically to reflect the most recent spyware programs, so be sure to update them prior to scanning your computer. On the topic of system resources: When your computer first starts up, before you have launched any programs, your system should have 90% or more free system resources. It is not uncommon to find computers with less than 70% free resources as a result of numerous background applications running at startup. As your free resources approach 65%, the system becomes less stable and may occasionally lock up, preventing you from getting anything accomplished on your computer and necessitating a reboot to clear the memory. When you reach 55% free resources it is common to experience painfully slow response, lockups, reboots, programs that stop responding and the inability to print. To clear up a common misconception, adding memory to your computer will do nothing to improve this situation. I am not implying that more memory is a bad idea - only that it will not resolve resource depletion problems. In this case, as with most things in life, the best protection is knowledge. Educate yourself about the nature and dangers of spyware. We have a partial listing of some of the most prevalent spyware programs on the Good Things / Bad Things page on our website (www.thecomputerwizard.biz) with a link to one of the larger online spyware databases. Remember… Before you say "Yes" to any dialog box you encounter, try to determine if it will install something you truly 'need.' When in doubt, just say "No."
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Copyright 1999 - 2006 The Computer Wizard
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