Posted on 11/02/2004 4:03:30 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
SEATTLE (AP) - The people who call Dell Inc.'s customer service line often have no idea why their computers are running so slow. The ones who call America Online Inc. can't necessarily explain why Internet connections keep dropping. And those who file error reports with Microsoft Corp. don't always know why their computers inexplicably crash.
Sometimes, the company that gets the complaint is rightly to blame. But with alarming frequency, officials at these and other technology companies say they are tracing customer problems back to one culprit: spyware.
In the past year, spyware problems have become especially pernicious, leaving companies scrambling to respond to customers who don't necessarily realize they have spyware.
Companies are concerned about the cost of dealing with such calls. But perhaps more worrisome, they fear customers will wrongly blame them.
Spyware generally refers to programs that land on computers without their owners' knowledge. They can deliver hordes of pop-up ads, redirect people to unfamiliar search engines or, in rare cases, steal personal information.
Users most often get them by downloading free games or file-sharing software - and consenting to language buried deep within a licensing agreement.
And because they consented, "in some ways it ties our hands because we can't legally interfere," said Mike George, head of Dell's U.S. consumer business.
Russ Cooper, senior scientist with TruSecure Corp., said a longstanding fear of legal repercussions is likely one reason companies have only recently begun to address the problem.
But now that spyware has become epidemic, he believes Microsoft and other companies ought to do much more to educate the public - such as by running public-awareness commercials akin to the old Smokey Bear slogan "Only you can prevent forest fires."
The industry's incentive is simple survival, Cooper said.
"It's almost ridiculous," said Bill Bane, 33, a derivatives trader in New York. "You buy a computer. It's new, bright and shiny and looks great and three months down the road, it's infested with spyware."
Though he recognizes he's partly to blame for his surfing habits, he believes his service provider and manufacturer share responsibility.
"Either the Internet providers figure out a way to clean up the Net or people are just going to pull the plug at home," Bane said. "It ain't worth it."
Microsoft officials blame unwanted software for up to one-third of application crashes on Windows XP computers. AOL estimates that just three such programs together cause some 300,000 Internet disconnections per day.
Forrester Research analyst Jonathan Penn said a spyware-related support call can cost $15 to $45, and companies may lose business.
"Security is a component of loyalty," Penn said. "People, they want all these various services, but they expect security to come with it."
Some companies have begun offering spyware-detection tools - Yahoo Inc.'s is free, while AOL and EarthLink Inc. limit key features to paid subscribers. Anti-spyware software that Hewlett-Packard Co. began shipping with new computers in June comes with a 30-day free trial; it's about $20 a year after that. Dell will have similar software by the holidays.
Most tools leave it to users to decide what to do with any programs found.
EarthLink's tool - and AOL's by default - will quarantine spyware without removing it completely. EarthLink spokesman Jerry Grasso said some users may decide that having spyware is worth the nuisance in exchange for the free program that came with it.
Microsoft's Service Pack 2 security upgrade for Windows XP warns users of spyware and other unexpected programs before they are loaded. And the company plans spyware-specific tools to give users more control, said Paul Bryan, a director in the security, business and technology unit. He said it was too soon to say when they would be available.
Advertisers are responding, too. After using the criticized delivery methods for nearly two years, Verizon Communications Inc. suspended those campaigns in July.
"We realize it was being raised as a consumer issue," spokesman John Bonomo said. "We wanted to make sure we were keeping with the trust they place in us."
I don't buy the crap about legal issues preventing a solution.. Look at the DO NOT CALL registry..it's been a delight at home since that went into effect..The problem is the offshore hosting of much of the sources of the spyware..But soon, the people will make their wishes known..
I think the laws should be changed to allow for LONG LONG prison terms for virus writers.
Along with that, PAY people to find and REPORT security loopholes.
When you do something that can cause millions or billions in damages you should go to jail for life. that would discourage them from releasing anything like that, and paying them would encourage them to find and REPORT a bug, not find and EXPLOIT them.
Both outstanding recommendations, K.
Spyware is out of control. We need some better laws to prevent these guys from sabotaging our computers. And enforce the ones we've already got.
This morning when I got up, Norton Antivirus was doing its nightly thing, and it found something called "StarDialer," which apparently tries to call expensive overseas phone numbers using the modem. My lesson from this is that none of these anti-spyware devices catch everything. Each one gets some of them, but I'll bet there is still one on my machine that slipped through the cracks. |
I was having problems and now using Ad-Aware by Lavasoft: http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/. Also run Spybot and McAfee "Stinger" virus removal tool. They work.
Just cleaned all kinds of tempfiles off my machine....I know what you mean.
Try moving to Walden's Pond. We have enough laws that are unenforceable.
It's way out of control, though. It's gotten to a point that they disguise their installation programs as Windows error messages in order to persuade you to push the "Fix Problem" button and install their spyware. They apparently think that is legal. If it is, then it should not be.
One that I received was even more devious. After it failed to persuade me to push the "Fix Problem" button, I tried to power my computer down. When the sign off dialogue box came up, another text box appeared telling me that there was a problem, and to fix it, I should push "Turn off". In order to turn off the computer without installing their software, I had to push their bypass button. Unbelievable.
The spyware epidemic is outrageous. It's not legal for people to build things on my property without permission so why is it "legal" for someone to install things on my "virtual" property without permission? Rant over.
To those of you who are not that computer savy, here's some advice:
1. Download adaware and spybot-search and destroy.
2. Run each one.
3. Reboot after run each one.
4. Run again (sometimes, the removal of one item will reveal another item.
5. When you finally can run these pieces of software without returning any spyware, run windows update and install all critical updates (You might want to hold off on service pack 2 - it may cause some problems. Also, you might want to set a system restore point before you do this).
6. If you're a little more advanced than the average user, you might want to clean your registry. I use a free program called regseeker.
If you really want to make your computer safer, switch from using Microsoft Internet explorer to another browser. I use Firefox. It's free, highly customizable, and safer.
Final note: Anytime you want to download a piece of software, do a google search on that piece of software along with the word spyware. IE: "hotbar spyware".
Happy surfing.
Bump! Same Here, no problems unless my son has been on limewire, then ton of junk! BTW he's been banned from Limewire!
Having owned a computer since 1982, operated an ISP, a computer sales & service store, worked in the military with a variety of computers, nothing has so bothered me as spyware. I've learned to beat it back, but do welcome regulation against it. Here's what I recommend:
1. Get spybot and adaware free from komando.com
2. Get Zone Alarm or other firewall
3. Adjust your browser Internet Explorer from the security default of 40% up to 80% (click TOOLS, OPTIONS, SECURITY and you'll see the adjustment).
These steps should make your computer more usable if you're experiencing annoyance, slowdown, etc.
It worked beautifully (after all else had failed for several days.)
I also downloaded a "remove on reboot" program that allows you to delete files that Windows won't let you touch while running. On a right click it offers the option to mark a file for deletion on reboot. This gets rid of some of the more "sicky" spy-ware that seems to be immune to all else.
Check. The regulations about and against spam have been nothing short of dazzling in the fixing of that problem.
What a great name - Hijack This! I gotta get it.....
Why would anyone PAY for anti-spyware tools? You can get the two best for free -
AdAware and SpyBot.
I run Adaware 6.0 daily, I have kids!
Hijack This! is a good liitle program. It gets the BHOs that Adaware and Spybot don't get.
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Last night I purchased the high-rent "Professional" version of Ad-Aware. I let it scan my entire machine. Other than a few cookies, it found nothing.