Jason Godfroy

SLM 521 Summer 05

Elective 3 Spyware

Ahh, the insidiousness of spyware.  I have had a copy of Spybot's Search and Destroy on my computer for many years now.  It is a fantastic program.  Whenever I run the program, I am amazed at all of the junk I pick up.  Spyware is kind of like germs.  You don't notice that you pick them up when you are in one room, but you bring them with you where ever you go.  Nasty things. 

The best part of the Spybot is that it gets rid of a lot of programs.  I must say that it always has a problem with Active X.  I seem to pick up Active X programs where ever I go.  Many viruses and spyware programs are hidden in Active X devices.  So, naturally, Spybot wants to get rid of them.  And that is good.  Whenever I see Active X was blocked (by my firewall software), I smile.  I know that many legitimate programs use Active X, but it just doesn't seem worth the effort. 

Although, I must add this.  I never used AIM before this class.  It is easy enough to use. Unfortunately, ever since I have been using it my Spybot and my Norton have been finding suspicious things.  The Norton keeps catching something called gamebug and something called weatherbug.  I hope that these are not bad programs and they are simply part of the AOL ilk that I get for downloading AIM.  I just hope that they don't do me or my computer any harm.

Jason