Breaking, Entering Your PC
Spyware, the newest and nastiest online plague, can paralyze or commandeer a computer. Help is hard to find, but it's out there.
Photos
Spycatcher
(Richard Hartog / LAT)
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COMPUTER SOFTWARE
THE NATION
SPYWARE
SPYWARE COMPUTER SOFTWARE COMPUTER CRIME
COMPUTER CRIME
By Terry McDermott, Times Staff Writer
It can, and often does, start something like this:
You're online, maybe searching for a specific piece of information, maybe just cruising the Web. I was investigating new search technologies that were advertised as useful in dealing with variations in the spelling of names and had read that Lycos, a pre-Google Internet portal and search engine, had developed some.
I found links for Lycos and clicked on one. That was the beginning. Within minutes, my computer was swamped with advertisements — pop-ups, pop-unders, pop-all-overs. There were so many I couldn't close them before others started appearing. I had to shut the computer down.
When it restarted, my Web browser had a new pornographic home page, and soon another flood of advertisements was underway. This time, I was able to get rid of most of it and resume working.
It went on for days. The blizzard of ads sometimes thinned, sometimes thickened. At times, there were so many that the computer couldn't process them all and froze. Every time I restarted, my home page was reset to the pornographic site. Every time I tried to do a Google search, a Lycos search engine appeared instead. New items for services called Bargain Buddies and Deal Helper were added to my Web favorites list.
I deleted these entries, but they would mysteriously reappear. Once, when I was being buried yet again by ads, I heard my computer modem dialing a telephone number. My computer is connected to a broadband Internet access service, so the only time I ever used the modem was to send and receive faxes. I couldn't imagine why the modem was dialing. More to the point, I couldn't stop it.
I have been using PCs since 1985 and have installed hard drives, operating systems, memory, CD-ROM drives and countless software programs. I've written some rudimentary programs to automate common word-processing tasks.
They began to duplicate each other’s functionality. The messages began repeating each other in an endless loop until the network totally disabled.
Imagine starting up your computer only to see the image on the screen melt while eerie music plays. The hard drive crunches away. What is it doing in there? Before you turn off the machine, most of your files have been deleted. Your computer is the victim of a computer virus. But where did the virus come from? It may have been that game you borrowed or, more likely, it came from an electronic document.
Grimes, R. (2005). Honeypots for windows. (1st ed., p. 424). New York, NY: Apress Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.apress.com/9781590593356
Q. What computer programs do you have experience with? What do you use them with?
Imagine this; you are sitting at your desk looking at a bunch of pictures. Just a normal scene, what could go wrong? Suddenly, you’re attacked by deadly things that are trying to steal your personal information like your credit card numbers, email address, all your passwords, everything. Could this be the work of ninjas? No (bet that is what you first thought though). What about the FBI? No. Then what was it? It was a virus. If you hadn’t figured it out by now, you were looking at pictures online using Google images (for all you Bing fans, I’m sorry but Google is much better). You were downloading pictures from Google and one of them happened to contain a virus and it was downloaded with one of the pictures. How do I know this is a virus? The answer is that I don’t. I didn’t give enough symptoms to diagnose this. To the pros at hacking and security, you may know that viruses are not the only threat. If you are new to the world of computers, you might not. The three types of malware that will try to harm your PC or your data in any way are Trojans, worms, and the most famous, viruses. These three are very different and all are terrible for you and your PC.
few might wonder what it does and then move on. The hacker, the true hacker,
There are many several different types of spyware floating around in the internet world. Adware cookies are files that contain information about a user's interaction with a specific website. These can be used to keep track of contents of an online shopping cart or simplify a log-in process. Adware cookies are mainly used to track user behavior on the internet. There are more vicious viruses out there than adware cookies. Trojan horses can take control of a user's computer in the blink of an eye. This program triggers many pop-up ads that cannot be closed or moved (Sipior).
This company says they are an ad free service but they use the ads to promote themselves.
What is the “MALWARE”? A malware refers to software programs designed to damage or do other unwanted actions on a computer system. In Spanish, "mal" is a prefix that means "bad," making the term "bad ware" .Malware includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware. Viruses, for example, can cause havoc on a computer's hard drive by deleting files or directory information. Spyware can gather data from a user's system without the user knowing it. This can include anything from the Web pages a user visits to personal information, such as credit card numbers.
The appellant (Google) search engine published organic search results and sponsored links, which are advertisements created by advertisers and formed by Adwords program, on users result page in response to users search request. The respondent (ACCC) claimed that by publishing those kinds of website 's address, Google is engage in conduct, which involved with misleading and deceptive. (Google Inc at [1] )
According to CloudEight Security Tips, Spyware and adware are the number one threat to computer users (“Say” 1). Computer users whose computer system or internet connection is slower than normal are a victim of this threat. According to Wikipedia, spyware is any piece of software that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge (Spyware 1). They have also defined malware, a piece of software intended to do harm to a computer, as a classification of spyware. These types of software will unnecessarily load ads, websites you didn’t intend to visit, or collect information thus slowing down your computer system or internet connection. It’s time to search and destroy these little pieces of software off of your computer.
In today’s days malware is designated as a software which aims to disturb a computer with the consent or permission of the owner. This term “Malware” is used by computer professionals to describe a varied forms of destructive, annoying and intrusive software code. This word “Malware” is used to indicate all types of malware which include a true set of viruses.
Sadly, many people refuse to face the onslaught of computer technology. A 1994 survey conducted by Dell Computers indicated the 55% of Americans are phobic or resistant to computers (Column). In addition, many important people, including CEOÕs of major companies, are rumored to be computer illiterate (Column). The former CEO of IBM even admitted to never using a computer (Column). Fortunately, PC’s are becoming more and more user friendly as the technology improves. Fewer errors, less maintenance and quicker functioning should encourage many reluctant people to finally step into the new era.
My first real experience with computers, as we know them today, was while I was in the Navy. Once we learned to use commands called "Dos", we could make the computer do unbelievable things. I became obsessed with learning as much as I could abo...
The computer evolution has been an amazing one. There have been astonishing achievements in the computer industry, which dates back almost 2000 years. The earliest existence of the computer dates back to the first century, but the electronic computer has only been around for over a half-century. Throughout the last 40 years computers have changed drastically. They have greatly impacted the American lifestyle. A computer can be found in nearly every business and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). Our Society relies critically on computers for almost all of their daily operations and processes. Only once in a lifetime will a new invention like the computer come about.