OK, a few things if I may...First off can I get some good suggestions for a good spyware program/detector? A friend of mine said he downloaded a free trial spyware detector (doesn't remember the name) and it said he had about 29 files that were thought to be spyware. He was going to have the program delete them but of coarse then was told he would have to pay the $30 to have it remove them. He says about every minute he has the system32 folder popup and he thought this was spyware. It sounds more to me like a virus doesn't it? What's the difference between the 2 anyway? A virus does damage and spyware doesn't? I'm new to the whole spyware thing so please bear with me and any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi, ok I'm a novice too but I can try to help. First of all, I use Spybot - Search & Destroy ... it works very well and all the research I have done shows that this is one of the better programs out there. Next, a virus is a piece of code that duplicates itself with the sole purpose of spreading. Usually it does something malicious, it could be as simple as restarting your computer (MS BLAST) and could be as extreme as deleting your files and crippling your system. A spyware program is something that is spread onto computers, usually attached to another porgram. For example, Kazaa, which is a popular program to download music with, comes PACKED with spyware. What the spyware usually does is gather information about your websurfing habbits, and usually direct you to a particular search page. Search pages that become popular can charge millions from company's for advertising - for example take a look at Google. Spyware usually doesn't dilliberately try to harm your system, it just HIJACKS your search page - which means it forces you to go to a search page or a home page you don't want to go to , and makes it VERY difficult to get rid of it. A very good site for more info is www.spywareinfo.com

The two best SpyWare programs are AdAware and SpyBot Search & Destroy, both are really FREE (use them both)! SpyWare, Trojans and Viruses (IMHO) all fall into the category of "malware" (malicious software). While most SpyWare is not destructive, the worst ones can be. The problem of SpyWare is that it, 1. Gums up the system, thusly slowing it down. 2. Is notorious for producing popups and taking you where you didn't want to go. 3. Telling others where you went and what you did, this may include your full name and email address too. 4. It can and will alter programs, IE in particular. Viruses on the other hand, can be extremely destructive. Some have the ability to reduce a computer to the value of a paper weight. Most of the current ones are primarily email generating systems designed to flood email servers with so much mail that they crash the recipients systems. Again I will risk getting trashed on here, but In My Humble Opinion, ALL malware in ANY form should be avoided like the plaque. _________________________ Computers work with absolute flawless perfection, until the first person touches them!

Thanks! So it sounds like my friend proably has a virus then, right? He said the system32 folder keeps popping up while he is on and he can't seem to stop it. He does have Norton antivirus and has scanned and found nothing. (I forgot to ask him if he has run liveupdate in a while....will do that) Does this sound like a virus, and if so one in particular of late?

As a comical aside, last night we had an overnight guest. My wife let him use her computer, which I have always kept as spotlessly clean as my own. This morning she asked me to go through it because some strange stuff had appeared. In just 3 hours he had downloaded 227 different Spyware files. I asked him to bring in his laptop so I could take a look at it. This is a record for me, I found 1,213 Spyware files on his laptop and NO AV software. And people wonder why we harp about "Internet Security". Some people should NEVER be allowed to touch a computer, IMHO. _________________________ Computers work with absolute flawless perfection, until the first person touches them!

I haven't personally used Spyware, but I am seeing several bad reviews of it. Is it good for a user who is not good with computers. Is it user friendly? I most likely won't have a problem, but will it be easy enough for my friend who is not so computer literate?

I use Spybot, Ad-Aware & CWSredder. All three are free and work great. Spybot will show all the items that record your history, but not all are spyware. For a virus check, you can do a free online scan.... http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp For a free Trojan scan..... http://www.trojanscan.com/trojanscan As for the System32 window poping open, see my post from a neighbours problem..... http://www.computing.net/security/wwwboard/forum/9036.html Response Number 4