Look how old this is! I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 17 years 4 months 27 days ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.
There has been a huge increase in the number of viruses I have been receiving via e-mail over the past 2 1/2 weeks. At first I thought it was just me, but an Oregon Computer Consultants meeting the other night, I asked around, and others had noticed the same trend.
“Internet marketing” is being sold to uneducated businesses in the form of spyware and ad ware so it is becoming even more pervasive.
The salespeople for these “Internet advertising programs” claim that their software is not adware or spyware, and promise to deliver traffic to their websites, so businesses are signing up to advertise with these companies.
I’m not going to name specific advertising programs here, but know this without a doubt…
If someone is trying to sell you internet advertising of any sort, but wants you to install something so they can demonstrate how effective their advertising is, then it is adware by very definition.
Just because the “free toolbar” that causes your ad to appear may “help locate sex offenders” or “tell you the weather”, doesn’t make it any less intrusive when it comes to your system resources or your privacy.
I’ve had pointless arguments with sales reps that think it’s perfectly okay to advertise like this, just because it’s defined in the user agreement.
We all know that nobody reads and they simply click “next”, “next” to get their free screensaver, or free Internet explorer toolbar.
Do you want your business to “appear at the top of the search results pages” only for people who have installed their adware?
Then by all means, go sign up for their program. It’s actually very effective. If your target customer is actually an idiot, and can’t tell the difference between normal Internet use and ad banners that “overlay” their legitimate search results screens.
As a computer user, you really need to be smart about what you choose to install, and what you allow to run on your computer, to avoid giving up valuable resources and privacy information.
Key loggers that steal credit cards and passwords are being written by junior high kids now, and there’s absolutely no excuse for not protecting yourself when there are such good resources available at no charge (for home users) –
Every single day, I get several e-mails with file attachments, and innocent sounding subject names. Some are even disguised as requests for service or quotes, and if it wasn’t for my antivirus program pegging them, I would most certainly open them out of curiosity about new business.
Whatever you do, make 100% sure that your antivirus software is updated and current.
You should also run a full scan of your system with Spybot. Even though I use a startup manager, and I thought I was spyware free, I just ran it and found 135 different infections detected, including all the cookies! I admit I haven’t been as diligent as I should be in running a spyware scan, but 135!?
(Yes I’m embarrassed to admit that, so please don’t bother leaving a comment that says “I should be”)
I also recommend using a startup manager, so that you know exactly what is running on your computer at all times, and you can be alerted if anything attempts to add itself to your start up.
Virus and spyware developers are becoming smarter, and even large reputable companies are advertising using certain applications that I consider to be spyware or adware.
Free antivirus software – Avast
Free spyware removal and detection – Spybot
Free startup manager for Windows – Winpatrol
Thanks for your article, Scott. I get frustrated too when I see “we will put you at the top of the search engines for $99.”
It is a total scam and unfortunately, people come see me when they have already been burned.
I see this is an old thread, but just wanted to comment on the positive changes that have been made all the way around regarding viruses being spread via email. Many of the freeware solutions are superior to what was available just a couple years ago for yearly subscription software.
– Travis