Industry Standard Computers
St. Clairsville, Ohio
(740) 695-1520
30 Years In Business - 30 Years Experience with Computers - 25 Years with Networks & Security
The oldest system builder in the area, maybe in the state!
Best Labor Rate in the Area, $25 Shop, $40 Outside
Spyware, Adware & Pop up Problems:
If you get a pop up or any advertisement not our own, while accessing this web site you are infected with Spyware, Adware, a virus or all of the above! If you have an XP Home Edition computer you 97% likely infected if it has ever been on the internet or was purchased from a so called discount store or mail order company because it came with factory installed spyware or adware. That is unless we or an expert like us secured it. If you purchased your computer over a year ago or from someone else you will need us to 'de-louse' it and install our spyware prevention on it and teach you how to "safe surf."
The do not's:
Never, never use a spyware remover without first removing the program that installed the spyware or unrepairable damage may occur!
Do not use a virus program to remove spyware; you really didn't remove the spyware completely! Some spywares will be back within 5 minutes after the virus scanner is finished.
Read carefully about spyware scanners before buying one or downloading one, most are scams that remove competitors' spyware to install their own.
Rates to clean Win 98 or ME computer generally $25-$75. Win XP Pro or Win 2000 $35-$100. Win XP Home $50-$125.
What is Spyware and Adware?
I like this definition from Trend:
"Trackware - that tracks your Internet browsing.
Adware - that displays advertising on your computer.
Trojans - software that can allow others to control your
computer.
Keyloggers - that record what you type, including
passwords.
Dialers - that initiate unwanted communication with other
computers.
Browser Hijackers - that change your internet home or
search
pages.
Parasites - that perform unwanted actions"
Something that must be stated upfront... Spyware and Adware only exists because Microsoft allows it to exist! Spyware has many shades of meaning. We will discuss the degrees of Spyware vs. other things here. The most extreme spyware has the ability to run your computer from a location out on the Internet somewhere.
Second degree is someone on the Internet is watching or recording everything that you are doing on your computer and having it all sent to them somewhere on the Internet.
Third degree extracts email address, account numbers, cookies and history of where or what you have done and sends it out.
Now, we approach the Adware degree which replaces the Microsoft spyware built in all Windows computers with their own search engines, home pages, toolbars and such.
Last is pop up advertising or additional banners and advertising inserted into web pages that you are viewing.
How big is the Spyware and Adware threat to your PC?
'EarthLink's first spyware audit found more than 29.5 million
instances
of spyware. This figure equates to an average of nearly 28
spyware items
per computer and demonstrates the broad proliferation of
spyware. While
most spyware is Adware-related and relatively benign, over
300,000 of the
more serious System Monitors and Trojans were uncovered. "This
figure represents
how real a threat identity
theft
or system corruption is for users. When Internet users have
questions about
spyware, we want them to turn to the SpyAudit report as a
reliable source
of current information about this growing threat to Internet
privacy,"
said Matt Cobb, EarthLink's vice president of core applications.
Chicago Times: The study found that spyware has disrupted the computer lives of 43 percent of surfers. That means an estimated 59 million people have spyware or adware on their computers, the study found. Adware is defined as tracking programs that come bundled with other software and that users knowingly download, although they don't necessarily want the adware."
Sophros Antivirus said that an unprotected Windows computer on the internet will live an average of 12 minutes before infection. (To weight this statement Windows XP Home lives 5 minutes. Win 98 40 minutes or so.)
Microsoft Spyware built in Windows.
Microsoft tracks what you do on the internet! They have
been
doing this since 1996 with the release of Windows 95. Removal is
easy.
Right click the THIS LINK and do a "save as" anywhere on your
computer.
Click "open" when finished downloading and say yes to install or
double
click file if "open" is not available. This file changes
your Internet
Explorer's internal search engine to google.com. Secondly,
remove MSN.com
as your home page. Change the home page to anything but
MSN.com.
Microsoft plans to buy a spyware company, Claria a.k.a. "Gator." I guess they want to start selling their customers information too. (There beta anti-spyware has downgraded Gator infections to "ignore."
Test it: type in iscnework.com (misspelled iscnetwork.com) in the address bar. Does it give you Google? Reboot your computer does your home page and the test above fail? Then you have Spyware! What we call "replicating spyware." Bring your computer to us.
General fact to dispel recent news: All of what you do on the Internet is monitored, all email is read at least twice by someone other than yourself and the recipient. By nature ALL Internet providers have access log files with date, time, etc. With our "Home Land Communism Act" sorry "Security Act," they keep those records 30 or 90 days now, where before they could do as they please with the log files. My web site's was on a 4 week rotation years ago, 1 active, 3 archive. Our managed Firewall content Filtering Servers keep a record of 5 week, just in case the law gets local.
All
pages on this website written by employees of ISC, © Copyright 1999-2015
by Butch Walker, all rights reserved.
Do
not copy or use in any way without written permission from Butch Walker.
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