Slashdot Mirror
Spyware Becoming Worst Tech Support Problem
teknurd writes "Wired has an article about the growing problem of computer users having to call tech support to get help removing all of the spyware on their computers. 'The fast-growing phenomenon is already responsible for more than 12 percent of all technical support calls in Dell's consumer hardware division, the biggest category of complaints this year, company representatives said.' Personally, I have had to remove this plague from the computers of several friends and family members."
Linux :-)
Personaly I find foramt C: the best for getting rid of crap like that!
I always ask Bonzi Buddy to help solve my spyware problems. He is always so helpful!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
...priceless.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Every time I remove this crud, I explain exactly why they had it to begin with. I tell them Comet Cursor , Gator, Bonzai Buddy, and the like are VIRUSES. Absolute VIRUSES. I tell them not to download them, and the problems will never come back. I set their IE security settings to not allow Active X as well.
/works for tech support
Within days, they're all back. "But I LIKE my Comet Cursor! I didn't think it would happen this time."
The problem here is that many people today lack basic problem solving skills. They see a problem with their VCR, they fix it. (Clock's off, let's say). They see a similar problem with their computer, and they freeze up and assume they can't fix it even though, in the case of the clock for example, it's the SAME PROBLEM with nearly the SAME SOLUTION.
People don't seem to apply their own basic intelligence to computers. Nor do they seem to learn from their mistakes. "Why did you install Spambar again?"
"I wanted the -feature-. How was I supposed to know it was bad?"
"Because it caused this SAME PROBLEM THE LAST THREE TIMES YOU INSTALLED IT! I HATE YOU! DIEDIEDIE!"
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
The most amazing thing to me is how slow some people will allow their computers to become, mostly due solely to spyware. My aunt asked me why it took her computer like 7 minutes to start up. I said it could be the bonzai buddy, three IE search bars and gator, but I couldn't be sure... Hopefully XP SP2 will have some effect in helping to keep people from runing so much of the crap.
My wife at work: "Honey, you should install this comet cursor program. Its cool. Also, a friend sent me this cool wallpaper program. You should try it too"
*looks up wallpaper program - sees it has gator and some other crap wrapped in it*
Me: "Honey Both of those programs are laden with spyware. You should uninstall them and clean your system"
My wife: "oh I don't care, I like the cursors and the wallpapers."
*sigh* okee dokee...but NOT on our home PC.
Is the juice worth the sqeeze?
Clearly they did. ;)
i happened to come across these fantastic spyware removal sites. if you download their software you are guaranteed 100 per cent no more spyware
Debian
Mandrake
Linspire
Fedora
Mepis
Xandros
Suse
Slackware
Gentoo
Yeah, do it. You'll have way more time to read slashdot!
Trolling is a art,
Spyware? On Linux? Are you utterly mad, sir?
Oh, but the gall, the gall!
Lord of the Spies
wife...mall-ware...
Joke in there somewhere!
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
If you know you're going to be back, and you know how much it sucks to have to re-patch the box, maybe investing in an extra drive and something like Ghost for the machine would be worthwhile? You get the call, go over, throw your drive in, load the OS on the proper drive, patch it then ghost the sucker to the second drive, power down and pull the drive. Next time they call, you throw your drive back in, boot off a recovery disk and bring the system up to the point of the last clean install... Be sure to kick them out before you do it, stay locked in the room for 3 hours and scream profanitys profusely so they think you're really doing something.
I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend your right to say it to the death - Voltaire
I've developed a small, word-of-mouth, cash-only business removing spyware and adware from friends and friends-of-friends' various Windoze machines. I use free tools like AdAware and Spybot. I tell them about Popup-Stopper and Kazaa lite.
I don't tell them about Firefox, Mac OS X, or Linux anymore. I also don't tell them to not use regular Kazaa anymore. After the first twenty or so times I tried, I got nothing in reply except blank looks, shrugs, and scorn, derision, and vitriol about any other operating system other than Windoze.
Now I don't tell them because in a month or two, like clockwork, they call me again and I repeat the procedure, and pocket another $50 CASH that they happily fork over. I've even been called a "lifesaver" many times.
This probably helps hide your own tracks browsing those midget snuffpr0n sites as well. Crafty dog...
I know you're trying to be sarcastic, but I also manage about 120 computers in an office where this isn't possible. Each of the computers are on the same network, and use the same bandwidth, and share some of the same files, but each computer owner is an independent contractor and we can't put anything on their computers without permission first. They don't leave their computers on all the time, we have no startup script options, it's a mess.
I remove spyware from 5 to 10 computers a week in my city. They drop them off with me, I remove spyware, I go to their office and remove spyware, I see spyware in my dreams, I eat spyware for breadfast, and as they said in the movie Stripes...
I eat sleep walk talk shoot sh*! spyware!
Be sure to include:
66.35.250.150
That kills more of my time than I know what to do with.
--
Mac OS X--Unix without the assholes^Whassles.