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Earthlink: Your hard drive may be spying on you
Miami Herald ^ | 10/14/2003 | Peggy Rogers

Posted on 10/14/2003 1:07:51 PM PDT by ex-Texan

Earthlink: Your hard drive may be spying on you

EarthLink has a word for all of you spam-hating, pop-up-blasting, virus-fearing brethren -- spyware.

And you should be scared, computer users, real scared.

Experts say as many as 90 percent of all Internet surfers have picked up one brand or another of this soaring spyware, also known as scumware, skunkware and malware.

That proportion seems awfully high, but at least a large majority of Internet-connected computer users harbor one or another of the thousands of spyware varieties.

EarthLink has more than a passing interest. Last Wednesday, it added to its Internet software a program called Spyware Blocker that the ISP says is the first anti-spyware software ever offered by an Internet service. Its inclusion underscores three things:

• That the threat of secret software that embeds itself on your hard drive is growing so greatly that experts have variously said its expansion rate could surpass the growth of viruses or spam.

• That many computer users have yet to notice the problem. Spyware is programming code that does everything from feed you ad after ad to record your surfing habits. It can change the Web page to which you're headed and log your every keystroke.

The latter kind reports back to an Internet source such private information as your e-mail messages and credit-card numbers. EarthLink's Spyware Blocker works against 1,500 varieties of scumware and continues to update the numbers as new ones are located.

• That while EarthLink has been on the front lines of blocking annoying and alarming threats to Internet privacy and security, it is not alone. Competitors like America Online have also developed security packages, albeit without antispyware measures.

EarthLink started offering protective software in spring 2002, first with pop-up blockers, next anti-spam and last month offering parental control of offensive materials and now spam blocking. By year's end, it expects to include a virus blocker.

Spyware is damaging, in part, because it is a largely silent plague. Now it is starting to get the serious and mass attention it so richly deserves.

''Since spyware is the next big threat, it was a logical and obvious thing for us to include,'' said Matt Cobb, vice president of product management for EarthLink.

He sees a greater drive to spook than to spin viruses.

''People who make viruses are malicious,'' he said. ``The people who do spyware are economically motivated, so we think it's going to become more like spam than viruses and surpass the number of virus attacks.''

Spyware can ensnare you in several ways. If you've ever downloaded freeware or shareware, particularly programs that provide such Internet services as music swapping, form fillers, download managers and other utilities, there's a good chance such programs offset their costs by letting one or several ad makers piggyback.

They can swarm your desktop with pop-ups, floating cubes and even more intricate display methods. One spyware program reportedly posted what looked like error messages to download software.

E-mail can also come infected with Trojan horses that steal information off your disk or follow your surfing habits. One company was caught planting spyware in the guise of electronic greeting cards.

If your Internet Explorer browser is set to automatically allow the download of software needed for such things as the proper viewing of Web pages, spyware can also slime you.

Look under IE's Tools menu>Internet Options>Security>Downloads, and disable file downloading. Re-enable it only when you choose to download software.

If you don't have EarthLink, there are plenty of sites with free or low-cost programs that will scan for spyware and allow you to quarantine or delete it.

One such site is www.spy checker.com. Look for information also at www.cexxorg/adware.htm and www.doxdesk.com/para site.

A word of caution: Some programs will stop running when the spyware element is removed. You'll have to decide which is the greater evil, giving up privacy to run a program or stopping the program to secure privacy.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: computersecurity; earthlink; malware; privacy; spyware; trojans
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To: Publius6961
BUMP
101 posted on 10/14/2003 7:57:13 PM PDT by Publius6961 (40% of Californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
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To: steplock
Yumm! BBQ Chicken! That hit the spot!

You've made me hungry for BBQ chicken -- was wondering what to fix for supper tomorrow evening.

Just wanted to thank you for your time, info, and assistance. I'm trying really hard to disprove the old addage that you can't teach an old dog a new trick - lol.

102 posted on 10/14/2003 8:31:40 PM PDT by bjcintennessee (Don't Sweat the Small Stuff)
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To: ex-Texan
Hmm!

Earthlink Wants Total Access (to Your PC)http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/844808/posts

103 posted on 10/14/2003 9:06:45 PM PDT by quietolong
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To: ex-Texan
night bump
104 posted on 10/14/2003 9:10:27 PM PDT by GOPJ
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To: stainlessbanner
Oops - you mean I shouldn't have deleted them?? Hopefully, the spybot recovery works.
105 posted on 10/14/2003 9:26:29 PM PDT by my_pointy_head_is_sharp
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To: ex-Texan
BTTT
106 posted on 10/15/2003 12:32:14 AM PDT by Dajjal
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I've had earthlink for about 7 years... i notice all their wiz-bang customer stuff is bundled with their annoying little junk package.... if you want the extra spam/spyware tools, you have to download their little package of software that is supposed to make surfing easier. At least they used to run it that way.

Aside from never bothering to let people know when access numbers change, they are OK
107 posted on 10/15/2003 12:37:49 AM PDT by KneelBeforeZod (If God hadn't meant for them to be sheared, he wouldn't have made them sheep.)
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To: af_vet_rr
the first time I ran ad aware, it found about 350 items
108 posted on 10/15/2003 12:38:28 AM PDT by KneelBeforeZod (If God hadn't meant for them to be sheared, he wouldn't have made them sheep.)
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To: af_vet_rr
"I bet if even half the people reading this download Ad-Aware"


...I had ad aware and unless I was mis using it, all it did was remove certain spy type cookies which I can do myself without ad aware. Is it different now or was I just missing something?
109 posted on 10/15/2003 1:07:44 AM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: Porterville
"google toolbar gets rid of all pop ups... all of them"


...May be good but I found google tool bar on my comp and I did not put it there and I am the only one who uses this comp. I deleted it.
110 posted on 10/15/2003 1:09:23 AM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: EggsAckley
"Tried to download ad-aware, but the page is very complicated and I couldn't get the download to work"


...I have had the same problem any time I have tried to down load spy bot. I have cable internet service but spy bot down loads at about 1 to 2 Kb per sec. the little progress box would tell me that I had 84 more minutes to completion--Who needs the aggravation?
111 posted on 10/15/2003 1:14:39 AM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: GWB00
When I turn off my comp and reboot my home page is always "About Blank" I can change it manually to whatever I want but it will only stay that way until I reboot again and the it's that blank crap again. can you tell me why this is happening?
112 posted on 10/15/2003 1:24:11 AM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: Graybeard58
bttt
113 posted on 10/15/2003 2:34:17 AM PDT by MEG33
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To: af_vet_rr
My internet browsing had gotten very slow, so on a whim I ran Ad-Aware the other night. Found 36 different spyware programs on my computer! Two of them from MS Media Player.

I thought I'd been pretty careful about preventing this stuff from installing, but from now on I'm going to run Ad-Aware at least once a week (probably more).

114 posted on 10/15/2003 3:11:20 AM PDT by yhwhsman ("Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small..." -Sir Winston Churchill)
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To: KneelBeforeZod
What most people do not realize is they can sign up for Earthlink service without using that lousy CD Rom software . Just call up and get their access number in you area. Easy as pie. You have great 56K modem connections. No longer have Earthlink. Use a local provider for about $ 12 a month.

I do not have and will never purchase a DSL system. Too many security problems. Why pay $ 39 a month for DSL?

115 posted on 10/15/2003 3:22:25 AM PDT by ex-Texan (Why Davis Orders Shredders - - To Destroy Evidence of Fund Raising Felonies!)
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To: my_pointy_head_is_sharp
You should be fine. The product is probably tested before it has been released. I have heard people being advised to manually edit their registry entries and make changes, which is usually a bad idea.

You're still posting, so I'm sure it worked! It's good to get that junk off your pc.

116 posted on 10/15/2003 5:59:02 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: EggsAckley
"I'm totally ignorant of these things. Hopeless TechnoNinny."

"Oh, man ... I just ride in 'em. I don't know what makes 'em work."
Oddball (Kelly's Heroes)

117 posted on 10/15/2003 6:06:35 AM PDT by BlueLancer (Der Elite Møøsenspåånkængrüppen ØberKømmååndø (EMØØK))
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To: Graybeard58
...I had ad aware and unless I was mis using it, all it did was remove certain spy type cookies which I can do myself without ad aware. Is it different now or was I just missing something?

There have been a lot of posts since that may have answered your question, but it's not just cookies, it's registry keys (which are a lot harder to find manually) as well as programs pretending to be normal services, etc. that can be installed not just from web sites, but from software you may download and execute.

Even if your running a firewall that is blocking these hidden programs from being installed, you can still get quite a bit.

118 posted on 10/15/2003 8:55:01 AM PDT by af_vet_rr
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To: steplock
I ran the AdAware scan and it pulled up one object:

Alexa Regkey Data Miner HKey_Local_machine.SO...

What is a data miner? It sounded bad (lol), so I quarantined it.

119 posted on 10/15/2003 11:55:24 AM PDT by bjcintennessee (Don't Sweat the Small Stuff)
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To: Graybeard58
Do you hit the "Apply" button, as well as "Use Current"?
120 posted on 10/15/2003 12:14:59 PM PDT by my_pointy_head_is_sharp
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