Computer geeks!! :o)

[LostMind]

hehe, teevee - I agree with you. Smart surfing can indeed avoid most problems.

Hell, I never run antivirus software myself. Or ad aware, etc. But I install it on every pc I build for friends/family (which happens to be quite a lot of pc's... everyone thinks that since I work with computers I must like to build them too!). And even with all this protection I still end up "fixing" someones pc every couple of weeks.

I always install xp for them, cuz its easier to use and looks pretty.

Personally, I run xp on this machine. Fully patched but no anti virus software and no spyware removal stuff. But I re-install often enough that I probably just dont notice the spyware.

I do run my email on my redhat machine - outlook doesnt like handling large mail files (my outlook.pst file was gi-normous). The redhat machine rocks. Absolutely rock solid. But no games or anything interesting on redhat - only work

[Samw]

but how do you avoid it? Suppose you downloaded this great 3d Marine Reef Screen saver. How do you know it has no spyware on it?

For example, say you like this screen saver. Would you install it?

http://www.simaquarium.com/

If so, bam, you'll get 2 or 3 spyware installed (although I think they've removed it from their package after I disclosed this information on their FAN Forum).

[Buccaneer]

Do a search for Spybot - Search and Destroy

You will be surprised how many more this proggy picks up that Adaware does not and vice versa ... I run both every now and then to make sure PC is clean.

Cheers

[ruck'n'reefer]

Wow, lots of traffic!!

Well... i used to run ad-aware (which removed a lot of spyware). Then I ran spybot (a few weeks ago) and it found a crap load (technical term) more including ad aware. I used noadware as posted before (thanx Seriak ) which removed more spyware which was part of my problem.

I re-ran spybot which told me that adware was spyware and illegally using spybots files!!

So... my computer is working fine now that I have change things as posted before.

If you haven't or don't check for spyware, my guess is that it is on your computer.

I think my prob was a combination of virus and spyware.

So I guess I can go back to the porn sites.

[LostMind]

Originally Posted by ruck'n'reefer

So I guess I can go back to the porn sites.

bwahahhahaa

[Samw]

Originally Posted by ruck'n'reefer

Wow, lots of traffic!!

Well... i used to run ad-aware (which removed a lot of spyware). Then I ran spybot (a few weeks ago) and it found a crap load (technical term) more including ad aware.

I assume you downloaded the latest definition files from Lavasoft? Every new definition file catches a bunch of new ones.