JimH wrote:
"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 1 Feb 2006 15:09:57 -0500, " JimH" jimh_osudad@yahooDOT
comREMOVETHIS wrote:

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 1 Feb 2006 13:00:32 -0500, "RCE" wrote:

So, has all this hacking and virus stuff been over emphasized to sell
protection software, or have I just been lucky for the last 15 years?
i have often suspected that the virus/worm/hackers out there actually
work for symantec and other makers of anti-this and that software.

one of the issues i have is cookies - i have to clean them out every
once in a while - those are probably the most - quote dangerous end of
quote - in the sense they can and do slow down a computer. and there
are various spy programs, etc that are a pia.

i was like you actually - i only had a firewall and anti-popup
software for a few years until about three years ago when i noticed
that my computer was doing really odd things on startup and it wasn't
getting to my home page as fast as it used to. i surfed around and
came up with adaware which i tried the free version of. 236 cookies,
a couple of spy programs and some other things called malware. axed
all the bad guys and computer is fine.

it was right after that that i noticed that there was some outgoing
traffic on the computer when it was online- sure enough, one of those
cookies left open a port and i got hacked.

fixed that, purchased norton, donated to spyware, bought adaware and a
program called pop-up stopper and havent had a problem since.
Yep, Ad-Aware is indeed terrific *free* software. Spybot S&D, Spyware
Blaster and Microsoft Antispyware are also good.........and *free*. I
run
Cleanup! weekly to get rid of my temp files. Also a *free* program. (I
think you get my point now ;-) )

Popups are blocked automatically with Mozilla Firefox. You may want to
give
it a try.

A nice little program that is not free is Tuneup Utilities 2006. You can
download a free trial version he
http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/
look you smarmy little block head - nothing is -free-. adaware pro is
not free. i bought the pro version to support them so cheapskates
like you can have it - free - .

spypot is not free - oh, wait its only free to dweebs like you - check
the faq page -


What the hell is your problem? Do you have to play the expert on everything
Tom or are you willing to take some advice from others?

And BTW, it's Spybot, not Spypot.........and it is free.


JimH,
If you read Tom's post without the "smarmy little block head", that one
might find offensive, what he is saying is correct. These companies
offer the 'free' version so people will see the benefit of the product
and either buy the full version or make a voluntary contribution.

from SpyBot's web site:

Please donate! [link]

Spybot-S&D has long grown a full-time job for me and causes quite a lot
of work for our volunteers. I'm working hard and it's great fun to do
it. Of course all the infrastructure we use causes costs, and I've got
to live on something, but at the same time I believe in free software.
Therefore I decided to keep Spybot-S&D free and give you the freedom to
decide if and how much it is worth to you.

If you can spare a few bucks, please donate to our cause. This is purely
voluntary though - if you do not donate, you won't get less support from us.

If no one purchased and supported the software engineers, there would
not be any of the great software we use today. Stripped down versions
are made available so you will buy the full/pro version.

Mozilla is developing open source browsers so developers can compete
against MS.

--
Reggie
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That's my story and I am sticking to it.

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