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• Putting the BargainBuddy dog to sleep 10/12/05
• P2P files: you can't trust 'em 10/5/05
• Not even repair shops are safe 9/28/05
• Sharing your PC can be hazardous to its health 9/21/05

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.

Always read the fine print

One day when I was browsing the Internet, I found this cute little game-creation program. I thought it would be kind of cool to make my own games and share them with friends. But, careless me, I just skimmed the EULA and skipped four or five sections. Apparently the EULA had information that disclosed the installation of 180search Assistant.

I proceeded to install the application, and it worked fine for about six hours. At that point, I decided to restart because of low system resources. As soon as I rebooted, I logged on and waited almost four minutes for my OS to load (XP had previously loaded within a minute tops). I was kind of confused about why a 1.8GHz machine would take so long to get going. When it appeared to be done, I decided to check my e-mail. When I opened Internet Explorer, a Jupiter-size pile of virus warnings blew up in my system tray.

Being the computer geek I am, I tried deleting the offender with every type of program I could get my hands on, including Norton AntiVirus, McAfee VirusScan, StopSign Virus Scanner, and Ad-Aware--you name it, I had it. Every time I loaded one of them up, I got a message saying, "A third-party program is trying to remove 180search Assistant without your permission." I was truly ticked by then, so I ran every single antiviral and antispyware program in unison. Finally, with dangerously low system resources and maybe 2K of 768MB RAM available, my posse of protective programs succeeded.

The main program that alerted me was McAfee VirusScan. It somehow detected a DLL that reinstalled itself in my Windows directory. McAfee wiped it out, and the rest of my arsenal bombarded the 180search Assistant, finally eradicating it.

--Brad
Wyoming, U.S.A.

Reading the fine print in EULAs (or end-user license agreements) certainly isn't an exciting way to spend your time, but your story proves how crucial it can be. Many programs that bundle adware or spyware openly disclose this fact in the EULA, giving you a chance to abandon ship before an unwelcome piece of software installs itself on your machine. Of course, just because the EULA doesn't disclose third-party bundles doesn't mean they're not there (this is where an antispyware program with a real-time shield comes into play), but we still suggest you always take the time to carefully read all the text that appears before the installation wizard appears. If any of the EULA's wording arouses a gut feeling of suspicion, continue no further--and if a program doesn't have an EULA at all, we'd definitely recommend aborting the install.

To address another part of your story, spyware or adware programs commonly use DLL files to reinstall themselves after you've already removed them. It's great that McAfee eliminated the root of your problem, but some malicious DLLs can be more stubborn than the one you encountered. For advice on how to manually remove problematic DLL files--something we only recommend for savvy users--check out the advanced portion of our Get Rid of Spyware feature.

--Download.com editors

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