• Not even repair shops are safe 9/28/05
• Sharing your PC can be hazardous to its health 9/21/05
• Wolves in sheep's clothing 9/14/05
• Burned by Freeze.com 9/7/05
• See you in hell, 180search Assistant 8/31/05
• Spyware that steals your identity 8/24/05
• CoolWebSearch: Public Enemy No. 1 8/17/05
• Targeting minors a major problem 8/11/05
• Spyware that makes small children cry 2/4/05
• Hey, shouldn't this be illegal?2/1/05

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.

P2P files: you can't trust 'em

I was using LimeWire to download programs that would help me turn my boring digital-camera pics into something on a Picasso level. As I entered a game room, I noticed a new toolbar pop up. I couldn't delete it manually, so I had to erase it via the Control Panel. From there, I noticed a few other unwanted programs, so I removed those as well and rebooted.

Upon restart, I went back to the Control Panel to make sure the programs were gone--but they weren't. At this point I tried to run some preventative programs, including Trend Micro HouseCall, Ad-Aware, Spybot, and Norton AntiVirus. The scans were turning up all kinds of results and told me some of the spyware components couldn't be fixed. I was going crazy, deleting what I thought was causing the problem and running scans over and over again.

Finally, I was in my shared file when I discovered more than 1,000 zipped files in there. I deleted them all, but more reappeared. For 24 hours I worked on this problem--scanning, deleting, and searching for help online. I found some potential programs and deleted a few Registry keys. But this cookie was smart: no matter what I did, the problems came back as soon as I rebooted. I found two files I couldn't delete no matter what I tried. Finally, I called a repair shop. They confirmed I had done all I could and that it was time for a reformat.

In all, solving this problem took me close to 48 hours, with only about 6 hours of sleep. Be careful what you download using file-sharing programs such as LimeWire, because you never know what you're really going to get.

--Darlene
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

Every time you fire up your favorite P2P client, you're essentially rolling the dice for your computer's welfare. Since file-sharing applications like LimeWire use a decentralized network, no one's checking the files to make sure they're free of viruses, Trojan horses, or spyware. Unfortunately, many of them are indeed infected.

In a July 2005 study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, one-quarter of the respondents reported they stopped using P2P networks because they feared getting malware. (You can download the entire report as a PDF.) Whether that's true for you, we recommend never downloading anything from a source you can't totally trust, and file-sharing networks fall squarely into that camp. Avoiding file sharing alone won't keep you 100 percent safe from spyware, but it will drastically decrease your chances of another long, sleepless night doing battle with pests.

--Download.com editors

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