| By RACHEL
DODES
Published in The New York Times: December 30, 2004
Correction Appended
January 1, 2005
(We are re-applying for permission to republish this article.)
The author's description of the pain she endured when
her middle-aged computer was afflicted with spyware deserves
to be read at least once by everyone who owns a computer.
Heed her advice and don't let your computer catch a "sexually-transmitted"
disease!
We long ago stopped counting the number of computers
clients have brought us with this "social disease"
: slowdowns, freezes and fake "blue screens of death"
caused by spyware and/or viruses downloaded in a moment
of frenzied excitement over a "free" piece of
software or the latest song -- "free" from P2P
programs like Kazaa.
Do not be tempted by these juicy morsels! There is no
such thing as a free lunch. It may or may not be worth
the cost and/or time it takes to fix it. But it's definitely
not worth the risk of unwittingly installing a keylogger
program that will track every keystroke you make -- and
send each and every one (including your checking account
and password info) straight to Boris SonuvaGonif in Novosibirsk.
Please note that you can find software downloads and
directions to fix such problems on your own at MajorGeeks.com
And always, always, always: make sure to back up your
data before you start!
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