What's choking your computer?
Editor's note: The topic of this Spyware Horror Story submission isn't among the usual culprits of computer stop-ups, but it was too amusing a story to pass up.
Published by Penny; Fallon, Nevada
My computer was running slower and slower, but it said I still had 75 percent hard drive space. I should have been suspicious when I started digging the ultra-fine undercoat hairs of our long-haired dog out of the keyboard as a way to fix my having to pound on it to get a response! I gave up, sent the computer in, and waited for the tech to call back: "Your computer was full of your hair, dog hair, and dust bunnies."
I had to laugh, and asked if mine was the worst he'd seen. He said no, so I asked what the weirdest stuff was he'd ever had to clean out. His reply? Dried Coke and Gummy Bears.
Editor's response
Before becoming a computer zombie, I was a bookworm. "Stop feeding the library books!" my mother would yell while I craned over the crumbly toast slice or bowl of macaroni I had wedged between me and my read. Books, homework, or keyboards, Mom had a good point. Too bad Penny didn't have my mom around to lend sober household sense. (You see, Mom? I listened!)
It turns out quite a lot of you have experienced a malware scare that had its root in monstrously destructive (but harmless-looking) dust bunnies. Or worse, cigarettes or roaches (see comment #5). The key is to stay aware of your surroundings and regularly douse your keyboard with pressurized streams of compressed air--or bug spray. Keep a screwdriver handy to rid yourself of hardware maintenance excuses, and monitor your energy consumption with a program like the free Local Cooling, to help keep internal processes cool and calm.
And when you can, brush the shaggy coat on your long-haired cat/rabbit/dog outside, not in the computer room.
Jessica Dolcourt reviews the latest and greatest smartphone apps, in addition to a healthy dose of Windows software. E-mail Jessica and follow her on Twitter. 
Also look out for other malicious critters like adware, and make sure you have a good adware remover if you want to see some serious performance increases.
I highly recommend you get a trustworthy anti-spyware software package as well, if you want to keep your identity safe. Spyware is an insidious threat. It'll watch what you read and what you do - and worst of all, it's almost impossible to remove without damaging your computer!
As we all know viruses can destroy a good pc gaming system. So be sure to check your anti-virus software for updates frequently.
Cheers
Freddie
If there was any money for the "security" software companies to make educating people on how to be careful online, then that's what you'd hear about. It's much easier for them to sell some magic software in a yellow box and hope that people continue to be careless on the Internet.
The other thing that bothers me the most about "security" products, is that they insist on doing daily/weekly virus scans.What in the world is the purpose of this? Aren't these programs supposed to be always running and catching anything as it comes in? Are they saying "Well, maybe there's something we might have missed the first time"? No, they are doing it to justify their existence and subscription cost, because if home based "security" software worked like corporate based ones did, people would be outraged that they were paying yearly fees for nothing.
I am a fulltime computer technician.I tell this story to all of my customers, and convice them of the truth. The only people who seem to stress and enjoy antivirus & "security" software, are those with a financial interest in its success (the companies themself, big box stores, and magazines/websites who profit from their advertising). I do usually load on AVG Free for people, just so they have something because of the beliefs that you are supposed to, which is good because it doesnt confuse or harass people, or slow down their computers like Norton, Mcafee, and others do.
The best tool I have found and do load on for everyone isMcAfee SiteAdvisor (www.siteadvisor.com). I don't know why this program isnt stressed or advertised more, probably because it could cannibalize their antivirus sales if people are helped educated in how to avoid problems on their own and without the help of bloated, awful, confusing, harassing, and computer slowing "security" software.
Thanks a lot,
Louis
www.computerspeedway.com
I'm an A+, Network+, Microsoft Certified Pro that has over 10 years experience in the IT field, and I have never worked at a corporation that didn't have security on their desktops in the form of adware removers, anti-virus, and anti-spyware. These bugs can wreak havoc on a corporate network, and can easily do the same on your home computer if not kept in check.
If you have children or someone working on your computer that is not the most Internet savvy, then I suggest you look into some security for your computer.
Although "Being careful" is one of the best traits for computer security, it is often not enough. For instance, although you may only go to web site that you trust or open attachments from people you know, standard HTML tags such as meta redirects can easily and quickly send you to an infiltrated site. Also, even a site advisor doesn't know every web site.
I agree with you that everyone should know about computers and how to use them. However, the fact is, that this will never happen. People are usually too busy to learn about them. Most people use computers for gaming, checking email, casual surfing, design, etc. They know what to do and how to do it, they don't need to know anything more for their job. So, in a utopian society, everyone would know the dangers associated with computers and how to deal with them, but our society is far from utopian.
As far as security software, I agree with you that many pieces of security software slow down your computer. If you can't find a piece of software that doesn't slow down your computer, switch to mac/solaris/linux/bsd. Otherwise, I would urge people to look into products carefully, not buy the big-name ones. My favorite is ESET Nod-32 AV, which is very moderately priced, is the highest rated AV on the market, and has no system drag on any machine i've tested it on. And it provides anti-virus and anti-spyware protection. For free products, I recommend Avast! AV free and threatfire. Avast has received numerous awards, including the latest Advanced + award from AV comparatives. Threatfire is just a really good heuristic analysis program.
Overall, it all comes down to your own preference. Many people, even those who are knowledgeable about computers, run some sort of security software as a backup plan. If you have good, fast program, your life will just be that much easier.
-----
And on the article, clean out your computers. Compressed air is cheap and can work wonders.
-Alex Kramer
so know that you should have anti-spyware, and anti-virus software. It never hurts. and although it is true that most software you can buy in the store is junk, doesn't mean that all protection software is. (and I've actually seen bsetbuy selling Spyware doctor, and thats a really good program, although it does slow down the PC)
so for a reacap. get ant-virus, and anti-spyware programs. I can't tell you how many PC's I've worked on that the Users has said, well I didn't go anywhere bad and I rarely use the PC and I just used common sense. (that PC had 100's of trojans) People don't seem to understand that these people who make malicious programs do it for a living. unfourtanely, using JUST common sense isn't enough.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9894181-7.html?tag=cd.blog
It's easy enough to weed out porn, hacker, download, rogue gaming, etc. sites that are obvious points where infections can take place. But how does the average surfer, despite all care and precautions, know when his or her own bank or e-tailing web pages are actually safe to visit? As intrusive malware-fighting apps can be, it's still safer than relying on only common sense and gut-feel caution, particularly when neither technique is able to predict the actual security and safety of presumably "safe" web sites, or the ever-evolving abilities of hackers to infiltrate and corrupt.
you find a roach in your computer, it's bugged
- by FloridaSwamp June 1, 2008 6:28 PM PDT
- I have a friend who thought like SpeedwayPC. He did the occasional online shopping. And one day back in January he started noticing money missing from his checking account. His bank said that the transactions were coming from eastern europe. His wife convinced him to consider the fact that he might have been hacked. So instead of downloading some antispyware/antivirus programs from here he wanted to prove his wife wrong by going to a computer store so they could tell her that his computer was clean. It turns out that after the folks at the computer store scanned his PC with several programs over 2,000 trojans and numerous other viruses and malware were found. It was so infected that the store had no choice but to wipe his hard drive clean and then reinstalled windows. He now uses Kaspersky Internet Security Suite and scans nightly with that and A squared free,
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(22 Comments)