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Information on leading
spyware removal articles and products to help you on your way
to success.
Whose Watching You?
By John Leigh, Sat Dec 10th
Whose Watching You? By John Leigh Copyright © John Leigh 2003.All Rights Reserved We all love 'Freeware' right? After all it's human nature towant something 'free'. There are some very good freewareprograms out there, Simple to download, simple to install,simple to get started with, especially when you don't have a lotof money to buy all the programs you want or need right? Well........ There's always a Well... isn't there.
If you have installed any freeware, there's a good chance thatyou've also got some advertising - supported software too.Working in the background, downloading banner ads - pop ups etc. Then there's something different - - collectinginformation about you and your Internet related activity. How does get onto you computer? Usually downloaded aspart of or in addition to the freeware application. You installthe program you have downloaded then another user agreement popsup that you click 'OK' (how many read all the user agreement -you should). Sometimes is 'misnamed' as freeware. Thenwhen you uninstall the original program the can remain. What Can You Do? A good first step is to install a firewall. ZoneAlarm a goodvery popular firewall. A firewall stops 'reporting backhome' when surfing the Internet. You have good control over whatis allowed to have access to the Internet. Get a copy fromZoneAlarm www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp Others include Tiny http://www.tinysoftware.com/ Sygate PersonalFirewall 5.0 www.sygate.com You can approve or deny access for any application.
If anapplication tries to access the Internet for the first time, youwill be asked whether to allow or not. Watch Out! Always read the user agreement of any software you install.Watch out for phrases like 'occasional or periodic use of yourInternet connection in the background' or enhanced browsing.Watch for extra user agreements and install windows popping up.It's easy to click OK without realising it's not for theoriginal software clicked on earlier. Be Gone! Some can be removed from the add/remove programs in thecontrol panel. The best way is to use a program such asLavasoft's Ad-Aware (which comes in three options - basic - plusand Pro). I like this program and use it a lot.http://www.lavasoft.de/ Simple to use - this scours you system, scanning your registryand hard discs searching for any adware and spyware. Anythingthat is found can be quarantined and/or removed. If you have a program that you think is check it onspychecker database at http://www.spychecker.com/. If it isadware and not then spychecker usually tells you. Protect Yourself Here's those addresses again ZoneAlarm http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp Tinyhttp://www.tinysoftware.com/ Sygate Personal Firewall 5.0www.sygate.com http://www.spychecker.com/.http://www.lavasoft.de/ Written by John Leigh. Editor and Publisher of Leigh ResourceE-zine. To Subscribe send a blank email to :leighresourceezine@globemarketing.com and receive a 5 part minicourse or visit http://www.leighmarketing.com
About the author:John Leigh is editor and publisher of Leigh Resource Ezine forresources, information and software products to help onlinebusiness.
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