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Authorities shy from protecting us from spyware
Thank you Guy Kewney. I read your article on Spyware (PCW, April) at just the right time.
My wife's computer had been getting slower and slower so I decided to give it the once-over. Apart from disabling a great many totally unnecessary start-up programmes, cleaning the main drive and defragmenting (even in Safe Mode this took hours), I ran Registry Mechanic which discovered a large number of errors, Spybot which found an equal number of nasties and Ad-Aware which discovered 117 files left on her computer by whoever feels like doing so.
I pointed this out to her, expecting some Brownie points but was met with the 'so what' attitude Guy mentioned. I then asked how she would feel if while out shopping she was followed the whole time by a creepy individual who noted every shop she visited and every item she purchased. This time her attitude changed and she replied that she would call the police.
Why can't we call the police or some authority to stop computer spyware? Where do they get the right to install things on other people's computers? Why can't the Civil Liberties people forget about Asylum Seekers and Identity Cards for a moment and address the issues PCW quite rightly raises?
I find the whole business of spyware totally abhorrent, but I am mystified as to why it is allowed.
Paul
See also: Fooling the ad-man's spyware
I obviously agree with 'Paul' on the subject of spyware and adware, but they have generally caused me less trouble than Registry Mechanic which I thought was meant to help.
A scan using the trial version identified a myriad 'problems' of invalid values etc. When I allowed RM to erase them for me I did not realise that RM had no idea that it was deleting perfectly valid entries for hardware drivers and software such as Pinnacle TV, Flight Sim and Music Maker. Thanks PCTools.
Posted by Frank Wrigley | April 27, 2005 6:38 PM
I must admit I agree that spyware software is dogged by a lack of agreement as to what is actually 'spyware' or 'malware'. I recently installed a package that classed several harmless utilities I use (such as an HP printer driver update utility) as 'Trojans'.
You should always go through the list of suspects before letting spyware removal programs delete stuff - and make a system backup as well if you can.
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