• Spyware that makes small children cry 2/4/05
• Hey, shouldn't this be illegal?2/1/05
• The seventh circle of spyware hell 1/28/05
• Think you're safe? Think again. 1/25/05
• Spyware that comes out swinging 1/21/05
• The pitfalls of pornography 1/18/05
• Free music with a terrible price 1/14/05
• Not even a geek could slay this beast 1/11/05
• 180search Assistant runs amok 1/7/05
• Big Brother has your number (and your name) 1/4/05

Download.com users are no strangers to the frightening world of spyware. Each week, we'll share a new reader tale of spyware woe, so check back frequently for each terrifying episode.

Targeting minors a major problem

My wife informs me a member of her church is having computer problems. I agree to a house call. A nice, married couple with a 13-year-old daughter explain, "The Internet connection barely works anymore. We can't print, and sometimes the computer seems to freeze but then starts working again. My daughter can't even use the computer for homework anymore."

I log on to the PC in the corner of their living room, and as soon as I do, I see a pop-up featuring a picture of a plump, naked woman. Whoa! After I close that window, two more open. Unspeakable acts, in motion, pop up more quickly than I can close them. I get closer to the screen, covering it with my body, open the Run menu, and type command.com to open a full-screen DOS session. Do these people know what's on their computer? Will they scream in horror and ask me what I'm doing? Is this Dad's hobby, or is the teenager getting paid back for downloading P2P programs?

I look over my shoulder. No one seems to have noticed the animated woman waving her tassels. I can't go back into Windows. I run directory listings on EXE files sorted by date and start deleting obvious candidates. I remember Edlin, a DOS-based text editor, and clean up the win.ini and system.ini files. The computer is churning away. Netstat is showing a ton of activity, but I haven't opened an Internet program. The computer has been hijacked and is sending a ton of data--I can't tell what it is, but just running a directory listing slows the computer to a crawl. I reboot and go straight to Regedit, then manually clean the popular suspects. Gator is there, as are others. I start deleting directories and writing down filenames, and continue manually cleaning the Registry.

Two hours, three passes of Spybot, and five pints of sweat later, the hard drive appears clean. I inform my hosts they've lost some file-sharing software, which won't run without the spyware. Mom frowns as I explain that spyware was connecting to servers and chewing up bandwidth and processes.

"Tell your daughter to be careful about downloading programs from the Internet," I say.

"But isn't that what the Internet's for?" she answers.

How do I explain that these modern-day thieves cloaked in marketing clothes have no morals? They deliberately package their wares with software designed to attract children. Like drug dealers hanging out in the schoolyard, they offer a good time but hide the real cost. They are greedy, they are heartless, and they spawn in great numbers.

After my hosts confirm they don't use online banking, bill pay, or other financial services, I tell them, "Good. Please don't. You're better off with paper."

--Michael
New York, U.S.A.

Some of the more shameless spyware vendors clearly take advantage of children by wrapping their wares in games, screensavers, and other things unknowing tykes might find attractive enough to download. In fact, this was a topic of much debate at Download.com's Spyware Workshop back in May 2005. The fact that many forms of spyware serve pornographic ads makes targeting children all the more deplorable.

Digging into a PC's Registry to remove spyware is never an optimal choice, but sometimes it's the only foolproof cure for a major infestation. Kudos to you for cleaning these folks' machine, shielding them from the smutty ads, and setting them straight about the dangers of careless downloading. Hopefully they took your advice and had a talk with their daughter; it sounds as if they might even have learned a thing or two themselves.

--Download.com editors

Got your own spyware horror story you'd like to share? Let us hear it.