• Always read the fine print 11/30/05
• How a virtual PC can save your hide 11/23/05
• Destruction of personal property 11/16/05
• Watch your bank 11/9/05
• Nasty ads from a nasty program 11/2/05
• The unwilling spam king 10/26/05
• A Better Internet? Not really. 10/19/05
• 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

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.

Unsolicited phone calls via unsolicited software

We had spyware sneak onto our computer and record information we used to get a credit report. This beast then sent our personal information to around 200--yes, 200--mortgage and credit companies. We got a phone call on an average of every 10 seconds for a week from people saying we applied for a loan.

We later used Ad-Aware to find the software responsible for sending the information, and we installed a firewall that day. Every mortgage firm got the information from the same shady company, whose name was in some of the detected spyware files.

We almost went insane over the phone calls--and we didn't even need a loan. Eventually, we had to change our number.

--Johnathan
Arkansas, U.S.A.

This definitely sounds like the work of a keylogger, one of the spyware scene's most pernicious threats. Receiving spam on account of spyware is surely annoying, but an endless parade of telephone calls is infinitely worse (we hope you had caller ID).

Once again, we'll use your story to point out that a quality personal firewall is a must-have and should be one of the first programs you put on your computer before you go online. Some of the more slippery forms of spyware may be sly enough to sneak by even tough firewalls, but in the vast majority of cases, your firewall will save you a lot of heartache.

--Download.com editors

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