{"id":336,"date":"2007-07-25T22:40:34","date_gmt":"2007-07-26T03:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/2007\/07\/25\/efficiency-tip-92-spyware\/"},"modified":"2015-05-14T09:12:27","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T14:12:27","slug":"efficiency-tip-92-spyware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/2007\/07\/25\/efficiency-tip-92-spyware\/","title":{"rendered":"Efficiency Tip #92 – Stop Spyware"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another common problem I see slowing computers down is spyware. Spyware is the name given to programs that have found their way into your computer via back-channel methods.\u00a0 You can get spyware from an installation of a regular piece of software.\u00a0 I remember installing something years ago and getting\u00a0a “free” extra called Gator.\u00a0 Periodically this gator-like-thing would pop up and ask me to do something or buy something.\u00a0 It took me forever to get rid of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today the <\/font><\/a>most common way of picking up spyware is by browsing the dark corners of the Internet with Internet Explorer.\u00a0 I have seen copies of IE that run like molasses because spyware has bogged\u00a0them down so much.\u00a0 You should always install Firefox.\u00a0 Two browsers are better than one.\u00a0 It is only a matter of time before other browsers pick up their own versions of spyware.\u00a0 To be safe, you should run some sort of spyware scan.<\/p>\n

I have used Spybot Search and Destroy for years.\u00a0 It’s free.\u00a0 You can get it here.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.safer-networking.org<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the original spyware detection programs\u00a0was Ad-Aware originally by Steve Gibson.\u00a0 Now it is distributed by Lavasoft.\u00a0 You can still get a free version.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.lavasoft.de\/software\/adaware<\/a><\/p>\n

It is important to rid your computer of spyware.\u00a0 This software will not only slow down everything you do on your computer, it has the potential to “steal” information from your computer and give it to undesirables.\u00a0 Spyware can also turn your computer into a zombie that is controlled by someone else.\u00a0 Zombies can be used to send spam and a whole host of other (more nefarious) things.\u00a0 It is in your best interest to keep the spyware off your computer.<\/p>\n

TSPY=6.66<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another common problem I see slowing computers down is spyware. Spyware is the name given to programs that have found their way into your computer via back-channel methods.\u00a0 You can get spyware from an installation of a regular piece of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[336,338],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-edtech","category-efficiency","tag-edtech","tag-efficiency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1423,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions\/1423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustyetc.com\/trustyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}