Fighting spyware

Don’t believe me? Download a free app called Search & Destroy from Spybot (www.safer-networking.org/ en/spybotsd/index.html) and see what comes up when you run it. I first discovered Search & Destroy after some of my colleagues complained of their brand new desktop systems slowing to a crawl. We ran Search & Destroy, which identified and deleted more than sixty pieces of spyware — most installed as a by-product of the popular music file sharing program Kazaa.

The vast majority of spyware will be installed on your computer without your knowledge or permission.

The tell-tale signs that you’ve got spyware include:

•Irritating ads pop up — even when you’re not online.

•Your browser opens up at a different homepage.

•A new toolbar appears in your browser and you can’t get rid of it.

•Your computer takes longer than normal to do simple tasks, and stalls or crashes frequently.

Not all spyware is malicious. Indeed, “cookies” — the small programs that identify you when you reenter online stores like Amazon – can be useful in recommending items you might like to buy based on your previous purchases. Or you may have agreed to receive targeted ads as part of you “free” subscription to an online music service, for example.

As with most things, prevention is the best medicine and Microsoft recommends these five steps to prevent spyware infecting your PC:

1. Update your software. Download the latest version of your browser and if you use Windows XP, turn Automatic Updates on and download the latest security updates and fixes.

2. Adjust your browser’s security settings – these determine how much information you are willing to accept from a website. For Internet Explorer, go to Tools>Internet Options>Security and set your security setting to at least Medium. (For more about Explorer security settings, go to tinyurl.com/2e4jo)

3. Install a firewall or turn on the firewall that’s built into Windows XP.

4. Surf carefully.

Follow these guidelines:

•Download programs only from websites you trust. If you’re not sure whether to trust a program you are considering downloading, ask a knowledgeable friend or enter the name of the program into your favourite search engine to see if anyone else has reported that it contains spyware.

•Read all security warnings, licence agreements and privacy statements associated with any software you download.

•Never click “agree” or “OK” to close a window. Instead, click the red “x” in the corner of the window or press the Alt + F4 buttons on your keyboard to close a window.

•Be wary of popular “free” music and movie file-sharing programs, and be sure you clearly understand all of the software packaged with those programs.

5. Download and install anti-spyware protection like Search & Destroy (see above) or Microsoft’s new AntiSpyware. Beta test versions for Windows XP and 2000 are available from www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/

Windows users can also block unwanted pop-up ads by installing toolbars on their browser from Yahoo (toolbar.yahoo.com) or Google (toolbar.google.com), although some cynics will claim that these companies’ tracking of your browsing habits for market analysis makes them the most insidious spyware of all.

Mac users are not immune from spyware but seem to suffer less than Windows users — OSX has a built-in firewall option — but check out About.com’s Mac pages (macs.about.com/od/virusspyware/index.htm) for some sensible security advice.

On the other side of the spyware fence, what about spyware you might want to install yourself? Parents, employers or suspicious spouses can use spyware to track use of specific computers — an employer may want to check that his employees are not using company time to surf porn sites or giving away company secrets, while parents may want to monitor just who little Laura is spending four hours a night chatting to on MSN Messenger.

Programmes like Spector Software’s e-Blaster can be monitored remotely and unobtrusively if you have even a basic network – it will even email you hourly reports on every website, every email and every keystroke from the person under surveillance. They also produce Pro and Corporate versions. There seem to be fewer products available for the Mac.

Spector’s Mac program takes “snapshots” of the user’s screen at set times but you can’t monitor it remotely from your own PC — you have to get on their machine to view them as a slide show.

Of course, setting up these programmes is the easy part. Dealing with the results and their consequences, such as a wandering spouse.

e-mail: AnthonyM@itstrinidad.com