In my last article I tried to make you at least a little paranoid (a lot paranoid would be better). I probably didn't succeed so I want to point out that the purpose of many of these programs is to use your computer as a staging area to spread itself to other computers along with as much information about you as possible. Your address book is a primary target since email address can be sold to spammers. If you fail to protect yourself, you can also cause others, many of them your friends, to be infected. At best, the people in your address book will wind up on many spam mailing lists.

There is another class of programs that might be called the enemy within. Adware, Spyware, Malware, Keyboard loggers, Browser hijackers…..The list is in the hundreds. These are stealth programs intended to be installed and run without your knowledge. Every one of them, a program someone wishes to establish on your computer for his (or her) purposes. The programs report back, via the internet, whatever the program was written to collect. Personally I think the keyboard loggers are the worst! Imagine, every keystroke you make! User names, Passwords, Account numbers, love letters, etc., they record and report everything!

Many are installed with programs you download and install (sometimes just to try). When you uninstall the original program the stealth program is frequently not uninstalled. They are slipped onto your computer in myriad ways and usually do not show up on the installed programs list. Even if you know they are there, it can be difficult to identify and/or to uninstall them. Sometimes uninstalling the stealth program will break the program it was installed with. If that happens, you have little choice. Reinstall the stealth program or find another (without the spyware) to do the same job. If you have a firewall and configure it properly, you can block the spyware program from accessing the internet and allow it to run (not recommended).

There is a web site: http://aumha.org/a/noads.php that will check your computer for the presence of the most common of these programs. It is not complete but if it indicates you are not running any of the programs it checks for, you are probably ok. The more paranoid of us will download (and regularly run) programs like Adaware-6.0 and/or Spybot version 1.2. (Use Google.com to find current download sites.) These programs are free for personal use and are updated regularly. You may need to download them anyway to remove any programs found in the web site test. They not only find these uninvited guests but remove them. They maintain a backup so removals can even be selectively replaced if something breaks.

I need to add something unpopular here. You are your worst online enemy! We all are! The things we do or do not do determine the quality of our online experience. People tend to believe what they see in print (or printed on screen). The fact is that it is most easy to lie in print. There is no visual feedback, we think people won't put lies in print because they will be held legally responsible. We tend to assume and what we assume is usually not what is actually written. When you're on the net or reading your E-mail, be careful.

Your BS detectors should always be set to start sounding loud, clear, and early. Listen to them!

CAG