Here's More Info on Spyware,
Gator Project (A work in progress)
Gator is spyware and is very much like a trojan horse. Without you being aware of it, it gathers information from your computer through your internet connection. This information can be used for whatever purposes The Gator Corporation decides to use it for. According to Webopedia spyware can "gather information about e-mail addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers."

According to David Coursey, the Executive Editor of AnchorDesk on ZDNet says "Gator software allows the company to watch what you are doing in your browser and send advertisements based on your behavior."

Webopedia says that spyware programs also "have the ability to monitor keystrokes, scan files on the hard drive, snoop other applications, such as chat programs or word processors, install other spyware programs, read cookies, change the default home page on the Web browser, consistently relaying this information back to the spyware author who will either use it for advertising/marketing purposes or sell the information to another party."

In order to operate spyware steals resources from your computer and bandwidth from your Internet connection. This can degrade your computer performance and even cause your computer to crash or just impair how well your computer runs.

Where did I get this or how did it get on my machine, you may ask. Well, it's often bundled with freeware or shareware programs. You may be told about this or a green alligator may just appear in your system tray. You may also see nothing at all unless you run a program that is designed to detect and remove such villains.

David Coursey puts it well when he says that Gator "gives me the creeps."

One such program is Ad-aware. It "is a free multi spyware removal utility that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware and scumware components and lets you remove them safely." You can download it from the link at the bottom of this message.

One cautionary note is that your ad supported software may not function after removing Gator or other spyware.

David Marshall (Researcher for Anti-Trojan.org)
marshall_de@hotmail.com

For further information by David Marshall go to: http://davidmarshall.tk

For excellent computer security information, please go to: http://anti-trojan.org/

For more information about Spyware see: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/s/spyware.html

For more information about Gator see:
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2803630,00.html

For more information about Ad-aware or to download it go to:
http://www.lsfileserv.com/

All users that want to download a program from the net must first check it at :

http://www.spychecker.com/

http://www.suttondesigns.com/EnigmaBrowser/Spyware.html

You can also check the programs you have there.(Ad-aware will also find them of course)

great info murve!!!!

I knew spyware was a problem, but since getting the comet curse, I have been reading everything I can find and I am amazed and dismayed at how widespread it is. Also I think that a huge precentage of web surfers are uneducated about the hazards of spyware, malware etc.

Two things are greatly needed:

first of all education, so that people know how to protect themselves and their computers, and secondly some movement to stop these companies who use this stuff.

So everyone *GetThe Word* out - and send emails to these companies to complain, write to government agencies, to your elected officials and so on.

Some more stuff,from an earlier post of mine on the ME forum...per SMUOD's request...

Browser Hijacking

A trend that is becoming more and more common where the browser settings of web surfers are being hijacked. Browser hijacking is where malicious code of some sort, whether it be javascript, ActiveX, or some other sort of scripting, modifies your browser settings. It can also mean that your default start page has been reset from your choice to something else. Sometimes javascripts will add ready-made internet shortcuts to your favorites folder without asking you.

In some cases, these changes are reversible simply by going into Internet Options and switching them back. Not always however. Sometimes it's necessary to edit the windows registry (gasp!) to undo the changes made. Sometimes there is even a combination of registry setting and files clandestinely placed on your hard drive that redo your settings every time you reboot the computer. No matter how often you change your settings back, they are changed again the next time you restart. There have even been cases where internet options have been removed from the tools menu by registry hacking to prevent you from controlling your own computer!

AOL has started doing something similar recently by placing it's web site free.aol.com in IE's trusted sites security zone, thereby bypassing the most frequently used security settings. This occurs after installing their AOL software, AOL Instant Messenger, Netscape 6.x, and even the latest ICQ2001b has reportedly done this.

Prevention and Solutions

IE-SPYAD

IE-Spyad will very likely prevent this problem. Not fix the problem; prevent the problem!

If you have already been hijacked, you will still need to follow the directions below to fix it, but afterwards you can use IE-Spyad to prevent further hijackings.

IE-SPYAD is a Registry file (IE-ADS.REG) that adds a long list of known ad/spy servers and domains to the "Restricted Zone" of Internet Explorer. Once IE-ADS.REG is "merged" into your Registry, most ad/spy servers will not be able to resort to the usual "tricks" (e.g., cookies, scripts, popups, et al) that they use in order to track and monitor your behavior while you surf the Net.

Please note that IE-ADS.REG will NOT block banner ads in Internet Explorer (though it will stop script-based popups). This list of known ad/spy servers and domains merely blocks the cookies typically attached to banner ads. It also prevents the use of ActiveX, Java, and scripting -- active content technologies that can be used to compromise your privacy and security -- by the servers and domains specified in IE-ADS.REG.

This "Restricted Zone" list is based on info from the latest HOSTS file of Stephen Martin

http://www.smartin-designs.com/

If you discover that a web site is hijacking browsers with these tricks and it is not included in this enormous list, please contact the author of IE-Spyad with the name of the server (ex./ ads.hijacker.net) and why you think the server should be added. The same for Stephen Martin that makes the HOSTS file.

StartPage Guard (SPG) protects your PC from cyberscams, by monitoring the status of your internet browser StartPage and protecting it from any unauthorized changes.
You can get it free from the atjwalczak.com,or fromHERE

Related articles;

Hijack Removal

Cexx.org Homepage Hijackers

Lop.com article

More Lop.com Stuff

All about ScumWare from scumware.com

Where can i download a program that will get rid of all the spyware on my computer

...i've tried searching myself but i only found freeware programs that just tell you how much spyware you have on your computer and it doesn't accually get rid of it!

also, could spyware have any other affect on my computer besides giving away my passwords, username, e-mails, url's etc.?

Thanks
Frank.

Frank,spyware can seriously decrease your system's performance.
Download Ad-aware from here
http://www.webattack.com/get/adaware.shtml

Thanks george
I cleaned all the spyware off my computer