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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!
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,
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 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.