Comments for So just how sneaky can spyware be?

Comment from JustInspired on 2010-03-30

2010-03-30T15:25:15Z

For a safer online banking experience you can always boot from a 'Live CD' like Linux Ubuntu or Mint. Not only are you very unlikely to 'catch a bug' with a Linux based operating system, nothing can be written to your Live CD as it is 'Read Only'. I use Mint myself. It is very good at detecting hardware and quite easy to use. Of course websites that require Internet Explorer are another matter!

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Comment from Charles (Sisyphus) Griffith on 2010-03-23

2010-03-24T00:23:31Z

...Call me Sisyphus.

I've been a careful and grateful reader of Leo's comments on everything he chooses as a topic. But...this Cat-And-Mouse game is not "Tom&Jerry". It seems that the very complexity created by very smart folks to avoid spyware simply creates "challenges" to the spies to find other penetration schemes.
This boulder keeps falling back on me, so, I push it back up that hill.
We who refuse to live in our separate caves will simply have to be constantly vigilant.

Eh, Leo?

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Comment from sirpaul1 on 2010-03-23

2010-03-23T17:17:47Z

April, you could also use a 'portable' e-mail client and a thumb drive then use it to copy incoming (or send outgoing) email from there.

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Comment from Mark on 2010-03-20

2010-03-20T22:05:54Z

@April: It's not difficult for your boss to read your emails. It's his computer and he would have administrative privileges for all accounts. He ay even have a keylogger installed (the kind of "good" spyware Leo was talking about.) Never assume privacy on someone else's computer.
@Jane: If you think your computer's been hijacked, the safest and I've found the easiest (I'm not saying it's easy but in the long run the easiest) is to copy everything to an external disk, format your hard drive and reinstall everything.
Also stay away from pirate programs. If you calculate the cost of your time cleaning up the trojans and spyware and worms (oh my!). It's probably cheaper to buy than pirate. It used to be possible to get away with downloading programs through torrents but now the % of malware is too high to take chances.

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Comment from april on 2007-09-23

2007-09-23T10:39:21Z

I know my boss is reading my emails. (dont ask how but its been verified) now that I am aware of it I will be using my home computer more often. It only seems though when I Deleted my emails they are being read. Since I am afaid to delete anything is there a way to get rid of sent messages without hitting my delete?

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Comment from George Arauz on 2007-06-03

2007-06-03T16:42:41Z

Its very sneaky, even most detectors cant get them all. But try using Firefox instead of IE.

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Comment from Jerry on 2004-06-13

2004-06-13T17:52:18Z

Want to get rid of Spyware? Don't bother with SpyWare Nuker. A total rip off.

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Comment from Jane on 2004-06-11

2004-06-11T17:27:31Z

No one in my family uses my computer except me, but someone has, somehow remotely from a long distance away, put files on my hard drive, and used my email address, and even my IP. Things are supposedly coming from my computer that are NOT coming from my computer. I've even discovered unfamiliar, or renamed files, pictures, etc, and music. Often when I use my computer, the mouse seems to have a mind of its own, and certain programs tell me that they are already being used by someone. To wit: My computer is either haunted, or is being used freely by someone else who does not live in my house. My kids are grown and do not live here, and my husband has his own computer. Can an IP be remotely hijacked to the point that someone uses my computer from a distance, as if it were her own? Thank you for listening. This is making me crazy. And I didn't have far to go. . . .
-Jane

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A comment on: So just how sneaky can spyware be?

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