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Spyware
For the past couple of weeks I have been battling the computer demons. My computer became so crippled that I thought I was going to have to buy a new one. I don't mean just to the point of annoyance, I mean inoperable. I use AOL with Windows XP.
By luck, I stumbled onto the word "Spyware" and did a search. I found that AOL had a Spy catcher program that you can download for free. It's called Ad-aware 6.0. I downloaded the program, and, after running it against my system, the program indicated that I had 450 files, folders, and executable programs that had been downloaded onto my hard drive from the internet without me knowing it! These programs were being launching right and left, most in an attempt to sell me something or gather information about my surfing habits, and creating chaos and crashing my system.
After running the above program I was amazed, it was like I had a new computer. Now I run the program every couple of days and it seems to find something new each time, kinda scary.
Check it out, there are probably other free programs for other systems. Do a search on "Spyware." I should note that the first program I found and downloaded did the search on my files and found all that stuff and then wanted $40 to take it off. Be careful about how they word things, a "free search" doesn't do you any good if it doesn't remove the junk. When I rejected the $40 offer I then had a heck of a time getting that program off my computer.
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Mike McCarty
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