Genealogy Chat

Are you mystified?

There have been quite a few threads lately about cookies and spyware etc. and it occurred to me that there may be some people who are a bit mystified by the whole thing. COOKIES Cookies are small files that many of the websites you visit place on your machine. Different sites use them for different purposes. But essentially all of them act as identification devices. Some cookies are a convenience because they remember registration details. This means that you don't have to sign in every time you return to that favourite site. Some financial sites use cookies as an additional security check and to record what users are doing. Some sites demand that people accept cookies before they can use their services. Other cookies are used to direct people to a particular subsection of a site that users previously expressed a preference for. Most controversial are the cookies that advertisers use to record which adverts users see. This helps them monitor the effectiveness of ad campaigns and work out who is seeing them. If you browse the web a lot you will collect loads of them. The main effect you will notice after deleting them is that you may have to enter name and password to access some sites that previously let you straight in. GC is one of those. Cookies do no direct harm to your computer (they don’t carry viruses etc.) but many people (like me) object to having them installed without so much as a by-your-leave and delete them on a regular basis. SPYWARE, ADWARE AND POPUPS SpyWare, AdWare and Popups are related but not the same. Popups are the result of SpyWare or AdWare.. SpyWare Spyware is any software that works deviously behind a user's back to collect and transmit data about your habits. It may download itself onto your computer, gathering information on you and transmit it across the Internet, downloading files or running programs on your computer, messing with your system settings, or even trying to silently pass itself on to others. Like a spy in real life, SpyWare may disguise itself and its intentions. It will try not to be noticed. It may persist in the background even after you tell it to go away. It might even try to hide from you if it knows you're looking for it! Spyware may do one, more or all of the following: • collect information from your computer without your knowledge and/or consent. • transmit a unique code to identify you (for tracking purposes) without your knowledge and/or consent. • collect/transmit information about your computer use or other habits without your knowledge and/or consent. • install itself on your computer without your knowledge and/or consent. • keep reinstalling itself, no matter how many times you remove it. • perform other unwholesome duties without your knowledge and/or consent. Fortunately now that these activities have been identified as 'wrong', the programs that do this have been identified and anti-spyware programs written that will remove them Adware AdWare or 'Advertising-supported software', if done properly, is a unique and viable business model in which software developers can make money without requiring the end-user to pay for the software. However, the key words in the last sentence are 'if done properly', which is often not the case. While it may come as no surprise that adware uses your Net connection to download ads, you would have good reason to be concerned about the large amounts of data flowing in the other direction. Several adware applications have been known to secretly snoop around areas of your computer they don't belong, including your browser history. Popups Popups are adverts that popup in you web browser long after you have left the website that originated them. They come in different forms: a window that appears suddenly which can easily be closed, a window that appears that spawns another window when it is closed, windows that appear as you start your browser or when you shut it down. Spyware and adware get on to your computer when you download some software, maybe a game or a useful utility. You will only find it if you use a program like AD-AWARE which can do a comprehensive search of your files and nuke the little devils. DIAL-UPS These are really nasty little programs which will either try to get your computer to “dial-up” a premium rate site (nearly always porn), reset your “home” page to something you don’t want or at worst cause your computer to keep crashing whenever you try to get on the net. The best defence against these is to keep your virus software up to date and your firewall on at all times. Of course if you are on broadband they don't work anyway To sum up: Don’t worry too much about cookies but clear them out every so often according to how much surfing you do Get an anti-spyware program like AD-AWARE, keep it up-to-date and use it often. Make sure that you have all the latest updates from your virus software provider and keep it on. If you use windows you should do an update at least once a week. I hope you find this useful Bob

Couldn't have said it better myself! LOLOLOL! Thanks Bob! Judy

I'll second all of that Badger Bill

Just a small addition on diallers ( having being stung by one some time ago) Consider asking your phone company if they can block premium rate numbers or if your thinking about broadband do it now and pull out the phone line! Bob

Thanks for that, Bob from Redditch - nicely explained. Janet

Thanks for all this really useful info. Of course, it meant I had to start a new file in word - GC PC Tips!! Kathy

Hi Maurice, I was getting about 16 unsolicited e-mails per day but then suddenly I found I had 93 and as fast as I deleted them I found I had another hundred odd until I had to ring my internet provider. However, I noticed that they all had a particular e-mail address which was not my usual one and I sent everything with that address straight to the deleted file. All the spam stopped within 48 hours which was lovely but also showed that someone was monitoring me. Georgina

Hi Bob For a non-technocrat like me that's really useful. Thanks. Anne

Bob, What would I do without folks like you and Judy in the States. Please both of you keep explaining in simple terms, like you already do, this technical 'stuff' for simple people like me. I, like Maurice, keep getting all these vile porno e.mails. I really have no idea where they have got my e.mail address from. Is there any way I can stop them? Thanks to Judy I have downloaded and installed Ad-ware. Thanks. Jean.

I reckon my niece had the dirtiest computer in the world (LOL) I downloaded Ad-Aware on her computer and it found 385 spyware components. I told her she should be ashamed of herself!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She couldn't access a website without being bombarded by other sites flashing up. Margaret

Bob Yes did that, I have to go back and load my Norton onto her computer. She had Norton anti virus 2003 but the updates had expired and the Norton Internet security hadn't been installed properly. I was there 5 hours and still haven't finished. I tried to use her puter last weekend and couldn't get on any website cause of all the pop ups everywhere. Drove me daft in 5 minutes, thats why I offered to sort her out. I have left her a long list of what she has to do each week. She doesn't seem to realise what risk she is putting her puter in, and her credit card when she shops online. I have her Firewall sorted just have to get the anti virus up to date. She is 22, and I could strangle her

What should I put my privacy setting on? Mary

Privacey setting can be safely set at Medium. Judy

Thanks Mary

Hi Georgina If the subject heading was PAYPAL it could have been the mimail virus. We had that problem, such a nusiance.

I have just had my phone bill in, on it was an 09 number premium rate 3 calls £36, no one remembers ringing it. Would this happen by these so call pop up things. Another thing my computer has been shuting down for no reason for the last month or so. Would be glad of some answers. Irene

Irene: If phone bill reflects calls not being made by members in your household, you could very well have a dialer program that has installed itself on your computer....worse than spyware, even though spyware is an invasion of your privacy, at least your not being charged for it! If you don't already have a program like Ada-Ware installed on your computer, download it, run it and remove whatever it finds. It should pick up the dialer. I would also make sure virus definitions are up to date and you scan your computer. As for the freezing up, there could be a number of things causing it. One could be spyware. Another could be the fact that cookies and temporary internet files need to be emptied, If your running Windows 98 you should be scanning and defragging regulary. XP users need only to defrag. All the above mentioned is part of what should be routine maintenence on your computer. Freezing could also be a sign that your hard drive is on its way out....make sure anything of importance on your computer is backed up OFF your computer, on a floppy disk or burn it to a CD disk. If you need directions on how to do any of the above, e-mail me and I'll send you step by step on how to do all. Judy

Irene, if you have been stung by a dialler you may have the basis of a claim. In the UK this is controlled by ICSTIS. This is from their site. “The use of any dialler found to activate a premium rate service rate remotely, without the intervention and informed consent of the user, will be in breach of the code. The provision of services and the use of diallers which automatically re-configure a computer program to a default setting or setting a premium rate number as the default setting, will also be in breach of this code.” There is more on http://www.icstis(.)org.uk/icstis2002/pdf/Guideline_11.pdf Bob

Judy Thanks for that will back up tonight, just in case. I have norton's anti virus and it is updated regularly and scans, its set up to do it. I also have Windows XP. Will get someone to look at the hard drive I think you said. Not sure about Ad (what ever) but will look into down loading and installing it. As for the defaging was it (all this new terminology is new to me) will try and do that as well. Thanks again. Robert thanks for that will look into that as well. Irene