I hate spyware. I rarely get infected these days, which is probably because I enact a few paranoid security measures (run as restricted user, use firefox), but sometimes I’m called upon to fix someone else’s spyware problem. Raise your hand, I’m sure some of you have had to do this as well.
Anyway, I stumbled upon this forum thread between one man and a friendly IT guy who go step by step to fix a spyware problem.
FRUSTRATED! Please help!” href=”http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/FRUSTRATED_Please_help_-t14149.html”>Geeks to Go! -> FRUSTRATED! Please help!
It’s pretty amazing how many steps they went through, and you can see that it took them nearly a month to finish the cleanup. Honestly, it’s a shame. There’s software for bad people to make a mess of your computer, but the cleanup software, though good, seems far more limited.
I suppose it just goes to show that it’s way more difficult to fix things than it is to break them. Kind of like the second law of thermodynamics. It’s probably similar to how it’s often easier to buy new stuff than to fix old ones, and why it might be easier to start from scratch than to get huge gains from modifying a tried-and-true system.
*raises hand*
Yes, I have had to clean up someone’s spyware before…