Is it really spyware?

May I help with some of your confusion on spyware, viruses and cookies?

Cookies are not bad really and they don't harm you. When you visit a website it leaves a packet- a "cookie" on your computer for various reasons. Let's say you use a forum like this and don't' want to sign in every time you visit. this website will put a cookie on your pc that will let you come here and already be signed in with your user name and password.

Cookies also track where you go. this for many sites, is in exchange for you using their site for free. For instance I'm cheap and everything i use online is free!.. so take my stat counter on my blog for instance. a stat counter keeps track of visitors to my blog, and gives me a count of visitors and info about them. there are free stat counter sites. I've used statcounter.com for years. in exchange for me using their site and the ability to make free stats counters to put on my own personal sites, they keep a cookie on my computer.. it means if i visit their site, i end up with an extra cookie on my pc, that lets them (for business purposes and nothing more), lets them track websites i go to. This is how websites are able to (try) and make money.. knowing what kind of sites you go to, helps all sites figure out what kind of advertising they should have on their own website that you may pay attention to. example: someone who visits gardening sites is likely a middle aged woman (agree or not, I'm using it as an example!).. ok so if they see that many visitors to a gardening site, seem to leave and then go to cooking sites, this will tell these sites what kind of advertising they should place on their site, to help them make a profit..

Now, even though cookies are for the most part harmless, they are considered low low level spyware. Everyone should clean out their pc's on a regular basis with some basic tools. When you clean out everything approx 1x a wk (or less or more), you will delete all these cookies most likely, and they'll be back on your pc next time you visit a particular site. example: you come to this help site and like to hang out here. every time you come you don't need to log on, you already are signed in with your user name and password. once you clean out your pc and delete cookies, the next time you come here you WILL need to log on again (because this sites cookie was deleted from your pc when you did a cleaning). The cookies remain on your pc until next time you clean.

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cookies and spyware are NOT the same as viruses, trojans and worms.

You should have on your pc: 1 virus protection program (never use more than 1), 1 firewall (xp's firewall sucks, many including myself turn it off and use an external firewall), you also need clean-up tools aka spyware cleaners. You can have as many of these as you want on your pc.. Most geeks have 2 or 3 different spyware cleaners on their pc. at the moment i have 3 and that's about the norm. You also should have a registry cleaner on your pc but if you don't know how to use it correctly and mess up, it can really screw up your pc.

Now someone above mentioned another friend who did a virus scan and found cookies.. Sorry, but no they didn't!! A virus scanner searches your pc for viruses and protects your pc from installing any new ones. Once you set up your virus protection program, all you need to do is keep it updated (updated means the original website /owner of that virus scanner you use-they keep track of new viruses out there- they make adjustments to their virus scanners to protect you from those new viruses- they download those "updates" to your virus protection program on your pc- these are called "definitions" .

Let's say you use the popular AV (anti virus) Norton Anti virus made by Symantec..(usually ppl get 6months free of this program when they buy a new pc).. ok so u use their AV, you load it onto your pc, and check for updates. if you are on a cable modem , then your connection is "always on"- you can go into the settings on that AV and set it to download "new definitions" automatically. This means that when the people at Symantec (who make Norton AV) have new updates for you to download, then your AV (on your pc) will check and download them whenever they are available. I have mine set to check for new definitions everyday. Some do it once a wk- or less, or more.. doesn't really matter as long as you do it at least/approximately 2x a week. Those people who are still on dial up connections (first of all, you have my sympathy), do not have an 'always on' connection, they need to dial up to connect on the internet.. so they would open their AV and check for updates (of new definitions) manually. It's just a matter of remembering a couple X a wk to open the program and check for updates.

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Any program you need on your pc, you can find a good one for free online. The people who make these programs 1- offer them free to home users and only charge companies who use their programs. 2- they appreciate donations from free users. If you use a free program and really like it, send them $10 buck once or 2x a yr, or just once, or if you can't afford it, not at all! They offer these programs for free with no strings attached.

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Now I mentioned that your AV needs to be kept up to date with "new definitions"..well this is the same for any spyware programs you have on your pc. Often the only difference between a free spyware program and the paid version is that with the freebie, you need to remember to check for updates yourself, and on the paid version, they will download them automatically.

AV programs- once you setup your anti virus program on your pc, and you have it set to get updates automatically, you should never have to open it again! It will work 24/7 to protect your pc from any new viruses and it will check your email for viruses . (make sure in the settings of your AV, you have it set to check emails for viruses, whether it's email that comes to you or email you send out). Have you ever noticed when you get an email from someone, at the very bottom you will see the name of an AV and it says something like "this email was scanned for viruses by....."... this means that your AV checked that incoming email for any viruses before it came onto your pc. Not all emails will show this at the bottom, it automatically chooses which emails to check. Emails with something to download, or an active x advertisement on it, your AV may consider that email suspicious and will check it for a virus and might even block it from downloading onto your pc.

Also, even though I said you never need to open your AV and scan your pc, you may occasionally want to do a scan for the heck of it, or you feel like there's a problem on your pc.. Did you know you can do a free online scan for viruses? many sites offer them and when you feel there's a major problem on your pc that your AV just isn't finding, then go to one or 2 of these other websites and do a scan of your pc. The reason for this is not all AV's are alike, or as good as the next, or may not have the same features that find the same types of viruses.. so an occasional online free scan of your pc is a good thing to check out. It is mostly newbie pc users who end up with viruses, but once you get your feet wet, you'll know automatically how to avoid these things.

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As for the myspace comments above, and the worries, you don't need to worry about cookies from myspace, you delete them when you delete all the other cookies on your pc with a spyware cleaner. Myspace is owned by Rupert Murdoch, that's of bigger concern than a cookie!

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Basic pc cleaning and safety:

1st of all if you use windows, and IE, you can do some cleaning of your pc with no programs. Open your homepage (which opens in your IE browser). At the top click "tools" then "internet options". On that very first tab you'll see where you can clean out all your temp files, your cookies, and your history. Do this at least 1x a month. I can't say how often because we all use our pc's differently. Some need it everyday, some less than once a month. Plus it depends on your pc, how powerful it is. Basically, if your pc feels sluggish, clean it!

History= History are url's (website addresses) that you visit. By keeping them on your pc, that webpage will load faster for you. So the setting of how many days history should be kept is a personal preference. It also comes in handy if you visited a website 2 days ago that for the life of you ya can't remember what it was, but you want to check it out again, you can usually open up your history and really dig thru it and go "oh, there it is!", then add it to your favs.

"Delete Files"= these are your temporary files. Without going into (more) detail, temp files are kept from websites (so they load faster), things you download on your pc or for instance, you visit a webpage and there's a pic on it. That pic will be saved in your temp file so that that webpage and that pic will load faster for you next time you visit that page. These days, with fast connections on a cable modem, it's rarely an issue. But temp files do need to be cleaned out occasionally, for one thing, they take up valuable space on your pc. So empty them at your convenience. Like i said, if your pc seems sluggish or jerky, do a thorough cleaning.

"Cookies"= we discussed this, and even though cookies can be deleted within spyware programs when you scan your pc, you can also delete them right here in that internet options tab. (There is a way to save cookies so they are never deleted, so you stay signed in forever and ever to your fav websites, but that's another issue for another day!).

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Lastly, they don't let you post links here apparently but I will tell you the programs I use and a few others that are very popular, all free, all used by 100's of thousands of people (if not millions), that will protect your pc. You can google them to download, or I'd suggest going to a website like cnet.com Cnet is a great download site and tech site. They have articles on new products, comparisons, and opinions/feedback on those new products. If you want to download a program on their site, you enter it's name in the "search" bar. When you find it you'll see how many people have downloaded it, what rating people gave it, and also lots of comments/feedbacks on whether pc owners liked it or had problems with it.

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That said, here's some free products to check out that I and others use:

Anti virus Programs: Either Avast or AVG. I used AVG for a couple yrs and it works fine, I now use Avast for about 2 yrs now, and it works great too. I have it set to download updates (new definitions) to my pc everyday. When I open my laptop I get a little pop up box in the corner that tells me my Avast AV has been updated. Both of these products, you want to go into settings and choose how often it sends updates to your pc, if you want it to send them automatically or if you want to open it yourself and check for updates, also check the settings to make sure it scans email.

Next Spyware Protection Programs- ohhh there are so many!
Spybot Search and Destroy is very well known, this guy was an innovator and many have pretty much copied his product. I used it for a lonnnng time, but found that I no longer needed it and didn't download it onto my latest laptop.

Adaware or Ad-aware (same product, you'll see it spelled differently dif places). Great tool, download it, check for the newest definitions (updates it needs to protect against new spyware), and then run it. The first time you use a new program you download, it usually helps you with settings- it asks if you want to make a back up file. Yes you do! this is in case using the product messes up something on your pc, you can go into that program and undo what you just did.. this is a precautionary feature but rarely or never is needed.. So open it, download updates, scan your pc, whatever it finds-put a check mark in the little boxes then choose "delete". Close the program and just open it about once a week, check for updates and do a scan... rinse and repeat!

Spyware Blaster- I love this little tool! ever since I downloaded it "Spybot" no longer found any spyware on my pc so I quit using Spybot. Spyware Blaster (or one word-SpywareBlaster) works differently than other spyware programs. It works more like a virus protection program. You open it occasionally and check for updates.. then close it up.. it does not scan your pc, it simply protects and blocks spyware from coming onto your pc.

Those 2 will keep you protected but if you'd like to add a 3rd, I'd suggest Trend Micro Anti Spyware. It is not free , sort of, but it has a long trial period. Once the trial period is up, you can continue to use it to scan but not get new definitions. After it expires you'd simply open it and run it and delete cookies it finds.

Why use more than one? well as I said before on AV's.. they aren't all as good as the next, or one may be programmed to find this 1000 spywares while program B finds a dif 1000 spywares.. or, one may update their program with spyware they found out about, but another products owner may have not found out about those new spies so they haven't made definitions yet to download onto your program..

am i confusing you? i don't mean to!

Ok, so you have spyware protection, Anti Virus protection, you know how to clean out cookies and temp files in your browser thru tools/internet options..

Now, a Firewall. First of all you must have one! XP has a firewall, I keep mine turned off, you don't need to do this, but if you have problems between xp's firewall and another firewall, turn xp's off!

Several popular-free-good Firewalls. I use Sygate. Symantec/Norton seems to have bought out (or taken over) Sygate so you may need to really search google for it's old download.. maybe cnet.com still has it. Sygate is great, just load it and you're done. Another popular brand is "Zone Alarm" and another is "Tiny Firewall". Firewalls don't normally need updates, you simply download it and you're pretty much set to go, never paying attention to it again. Note: when you download a new firewall, you are likely to get a lot of pop up warnings from your pc.. these are warnings from the firewall- it is trying to get to know your pc so it can protect you. these pop ups will say something about "so and so is trying to access your pc blah blah blah blah".. you can choose "don't allow" or "allow"... before you choose "allow" put a check mark in the box so it doesn't ask you ever again if it's ok that that program or page gets thru to your pc. As a newbie, this may freak you out and you won't know what to do. I'd pretty much say for the 1st 3 days you use a new firewall, allow everything thru it asks about it. Once the firewall gets to know your pc it will quit asking. There are a lot of things that "call home" and your firewall is asking permission to let them do this. Don't get freaked out, this is normal.. Your xp may call home to Microsoft, your video card may call home to it's maker, your anti virus may call home to check for new definitions, etc..

By the way, if you have a wireless connection to your pc, for instance you use a laptop and have a router setup so your 1 internet connection can connect to 2 or more dif pc's in your home, that router works as an excellent firewall also. So with a firewall on your pc, and a router, if you have one, you are getting that extra protection.

Aside from an AV and Spyware Protection Programs, and a firewall, you may eventually realize you need a registry cleaner. Unfortunately finding a freebie is not easy these days. The one I use is no longer avail (that I've found)... Most give you a trial period to try one out.. Choose one to try (again, use cnet.com to see which ones are popular), download it and it'd be best if you have someone there who isn't a newbie to help you figure out that particular registry cleaner and how to use it. Make sure it is set to make a back up. Once again, here, if something screwy happens to your pc after you use a registry cleaner, you can always go into that program and undo the last cleaning. Important to note- registry cleaners for the beginner if used wrong, can screw up your pc unlike AV's and Spyware programs so make sure you know what you are doing. Also never use more than 1 registry cleaner and DO NOT use 2 dif kinds.. They are not alike, they clean/fix registry entries in dif ways.. if you use one and then decide to use a dif one, the 2nd one may try and undo what the 1st one did and put you into heart failure!..

If for instance, not only does your pc seem sluggish AFTER you did other cleaning, or you open your start menu and it opens in sort of a choppy way, and/or you do a lot of picture or video editing.. You need a registry cleaner!!!

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So don't be that worried about cookies, they are not viruses, they barely are spyware. You know now how to clean up occas and how and with what..

There are a ton of free really cool downloads out there to try and I'll mention just a few. I have many email accounts.. MANY! most ppl have 2 or 3 or 4 which is best for the normal person. If you'd like a way to check all mail at the same time, well there are many ways to do it, and even setting your OE to do it.. but for beginners they are lost in this area. There's a cool tool called Eprompter.. You can add up to 16 email accounts on this little tool. Once you set it up (and it's easy as heck to setup), it puts a little icon in your taskbar that constantly rotates and shows you if you have new email.. It let's you set dif colors for dif email accounts- so for instance when this little tool rotates in my taskbar, if i see a purple circle with the #3, i know which email account has 3 new emails in it.. (you memorize which email account you set with what color).. you can set it to check email every 5 minutes or hours or each day.. You simply click on it and read your mail.. definitely one of my favs and easy for newbies to figure out.

Next is a program called Belarc Adviser. This is one of those "cool finds".. you go to their website, click "download", it scans your pc and opens up a page where you can see everything on your pc! the size of your hard drive, what brand motherboard you have, what Windows updates you have or need, programs you downloaded, the brand of your video card.. it's just a webpage and it shows everything in your pc.. totally cool thing to check out, honestly!!

Oh gosh there are so many to mention.. what shall i suggest! how about Fav.org
In IE you notice all your shortcuts turn into "e" ugly icons? you can fix them to 1- go back to their original icon or 2- you can set your shortcut to a website with any icon you want..whether it's one that's already on your pc or you can make your own icons.. i use pics of my cats for icons!!! (fav.org is hard to find on the internet).. PC Magazine has it but it is NOT a free download.. If you keep searching google you'll find a website in a foreign language that still has the free version to download.. I used to have the link but lost it..

Want to make your own icons? you need to take pics and set them to file type ".ico".. Irfanview will do this.. this tool has lots of features you can get to know, but even for a newbie you can download it, open a pic in it, then click "save as" and choose to save that pic as an ".ico" file.. this way you can now use that new file/pic as a shortcut pic in your ie browser..

Are there things you'd like to alter on your Windows and/or IE and your pc just doesn't have the fixes for these? there is a program offered by Microsoft called "Tweak UI".. it helps you do extra things to your pc that you may want. example: add your name at the top of the start menu,.. hate those dang balloon pop ups every time you point to something on your task bar? you can shut that down too! that was one of my first annoyances as a newbie and that's how I found out about Tweak UI.

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Ok I hope that long book I wrote above is of help to some.. this obviously is my first visit to this site.. I was actually on google looking for something (I forget what lol) and ended up here.. I remember what it was like being a newbie, especially for someone older like myself who remembers black and white tv, no remote, dial up phones, etc.. This new techie stuff can confuse the heck out of you especially if there is no one there to help yo learn the ins and outs of computes.. I was like, "what's a browser?, what's a download? where's my desktop? huh?".. and sometimes help on the web still confuses the newbie and they feel dumb because the helper doesn't give explicit detail on how/what /when /where and the newbie feels lost... so i hope that above helped some get more familiar with the ins and outs of your pc, it's needs, your safety, and what's going on with this internet thingy!!!

I'll try to check back sometime.. I was working on my blog, went to google for something, and here i am.. I swear I don't remember what i was looking for ha ha..

Good luck!