It's come to my attention that there are a lot of people out there--people my age, college students--who don't know some of the things I consider to be essential to the use and maintenance of your average home computer. Not advanced operation, use of specific programs or anything like that. No, I'm referring to the stuff you will need, eventually, to understand if you wish to continue using your computer without it (or you) exploding.
Let's talk a moment about one of the things likely to make both of you explode. You may have heard the word before, and, frankly, if you haven't, I hope you don't use the Internet. I'm talking, of course, about spyware.
What is spyware? The word is pretty much a blanket term now for any program which insinuates itself into your computer and performs its tasks completely without your consent, and often without your knowledge. This is also called malware, since it does absolutely nothing for you and will eventually do bad things to your poor, innocent computer. Spyware is created by companies that want something. That something might be as innocent as monitoring your Internet activity, or as underhanded and manipulative as hijacking your Internet browser and forcing it to show pop-ups of their products, redirect you to their Web sites, or change your home page. Most of the time these programs are almost invisible, and almost all of the time, it is impossible to remove them by conventional methods. The people who make these things are ruthless. They will do everything within their power to make their spyware impossible to remove.
When the Internet first came into public view, even as recently as 1998 or 99, spyware was at best a minor concern. The main worry on the minds of those using online services were viruses, which have fallen further from the minds of most people lately. I suspect this is going to prove disastrous down the line, but I digress. Spyware is bad. It will slow down your computer, cause annoying errors, interfere with your work and eventually crash whatever system you are using, if left unchecked. If you're using the Internet, you're at risk. So you're probably at risk.
Fortunately, there are people who are fighting back. A good number of programmers and companies have come out with anti-spyware programs that track down, isolate and destroy the spyware on your computer. None of them are 100 percent perfect, but they come a lot closer to putting a temporary lid on the problem.
The three best programs on the market right now--in your humble columnist's opinion--are called Ad-Aware, Spybot, and Spy Sweeper. The first two, Ad Aware and Spybot, are both completely free. You will never have to pay a cent for their services, and they're getting better all the time. The last, Spy Sweeper, is possibly the best of the three, but is only free for a certain amount of time, and may slow down your browser.
You can find these programs by putting in their names in a search engine, such as Google, or going to www.download.com and searching for them. Download 'em, install 'em, use 'em. They will make your computer happy, and save you a lot of grief down the line.
Public service message ends.
Write to Jonathan at tenement_cellar@msn.com
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