79. Spyware and other scumware
Spyware refers to programs that are designed to run on your PC and report back to Webmasters on your surfing habits so that you can be targeted for ads. Sometimes spyware is used just to do market research. Variations of spyware are also used to hijack you as you surf the Web and direct you to sites selling goods and services.
Spyware -- or scumware as it is also known -- scumware can slow down your computer and fill your hard drive with vast numbers of unwanted files. So it is doubly important to get spyware out of your computer.
The best way to get rid of these programs is to use one, or both of the leading antispyware programs, Ad-Aware and Spybot Search&Destroy.
Ad-Aware is available at www.lavasoftusa.com
Spybot at http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
You can check out reviews of other antispyware software at
www.anti-spyware-review.toptenreviews.com/?ttreng=1&ttrkey=spysweeper+review
www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,115939,pg,7,00.asp
Because new versions of scumware are appearing continuously, you should regularly update antispyware programs.
About:blank
This is a particularly insidious piece of spyware, one that is seemingly resistant to any single effort to clean it out.
However, different people, using different approaches have managed to root it out of their systems. So, unfortunately, the best I can do is pass along the Web sites containing the various tools others have tried, some successfully.
Remember, though, that it also pays to update and use SpyBot, Ad-Aware,CWShredder and other antispyware programs. Although some FAQ correspondents in the past have complained that these programs are ineffective against about:blank, it is possible that by now the programs have caught up with it.
On the Web
www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm
www.akadia.com/services/about_blank_virus.html
www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html#realyellowpage
www.securiteam.com/securityreviews/5rp0l0ud5u.html
Some additional suggestions
Download and use another utility, HijackThis! This program, among other things, takes inventory of strange things on your hard drive. You can then post the inventory, which is logged in a document, on the Spwareinfo Web site. Helpful folks will look at it and recommend ways or removing what ails your PC. Be sure to read the FAQs on the site first.
You can find a link to a site where you can download HijackThis! on the MVPS site listed below. The site, also includes a long list of tips for dealing with spyware. Print and study them. There won't be a quiz, but the tips will be very helpful.
In the meantime:
For more tips, see the doxdesk Web site below
On the Web
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
www.spywareinfo.com
www.doxdesk.com/parasite/Xupiter.html
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