Anyone know anything anything about spyware?

It may be my paranoia and delusions, but in the summer of 2013 I was triggered/tricked to visit some web site for szs that was run by some military people and soon after my keyboard stopped working and I had to use the display keyboard for many months before I got help from HP to install a new BIOS. I believe they disabled this keyboard. These things do happen, but again it may be my paranoia.

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Someone doesnā€™t have to download odd stuff to get a virus or spyware. It happens, a lot.

Nortonā€¦ I found pretty useless.

I use AVG, itā€™s free and it notifies me when itā€™s blocking threats and asks for confirmation when Iā€™m downloading things if I will allow it to make changes on my computer. You can also scan things after downloading but before opening.

As for 6 trojansā€¦ I have had a lot more then that on my computer at one time. Along with up to 100 instances of spyware. Itā€™s not like these viruses think: Oh she already has a virus so lets skip this computerā€¦

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This is exactly what I do. Security Essentials is built into my Windows 8 systems as Windows Defender. I run it on my Windows 7 64-bit desktop (Photoshop system) and also on my Netcasting system (32-bit Vista). If you donā€™t need to run any Windows applications, I highly recommend Linux instead. My fave flavour of Distro is Linux Mint.

Norton is such a resource hog that it really really REALLY slows down older systems. So much so that infections can establish themselves deep into Windows before Norton notices they are present. Near as I can determine, 75% of the resources it consumes go into creating incessant pop-up messages saying, ā€œWookit me! Iā€™m doing such a great job! Wookit! Wookit me! Make sure your credit card is on file to renew!ā€

10-96

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Why doesnā€™t anyone like Norton? I get it free through my ISP and I like it. It doesnā€™t slow my PC down, it tells me if a website is safe, it stores all of my passwords and info so it automatically fills things in, and it does everything security software is supposed to do. Also not only does it run scans and have a great firewall but it helps you change things to speed up your computer. Iā€™ve never had maleware on either of my computers.

@jaynebeal Iā€™m sorry this has happened to you. I would take it to a repair shop if I were you. They know where to look to find every bit of spyware if the scans miss it. I would also invest in security software. In the future it will block malacious software before it has a chance to get on your computer. Good luck! :sun_with_face:

Well I havnt had Spyware like that ever. In like 10 years nothing like that. So thatā€™s a bit interesting wouldnt you think. That really isnā€™t the issue though. its the targeting delusion is the issue.

Iā€™ve had small viruses but nothing of that extent. And the virus scanner blocks most anyways. You can even dl a Web browser blocker called k9 Web protection to prevent kids from getting into the wrong sites

To protect from Spyware you just have to have a bit of knowledge about computers and not everyone knows much about them. Itā€™s the technology grey area.

Iā€™m a former network admin, technical author, and used to run a PC repair biz. Many of the most infected machines I worked on had an active Norton subscription, but that didnā€™t prevent them from getting some pretty bad infections. I saw fewer problems with systems running Panda, Kapersky and Security Essentials. AVG and Avira used to be quite good, but they have been slipping in recent years.

You can get better protection for less than Norton charges. Most free products work as well or better than Norton.

NO antivirus product will protect people from their own stupidity. If something is free, find out WHY before you install it. Donā€™t just trust that someone is giving software away out of the goodness of their heart (this does happen, but you need to find out if it is from a valid free software project first). Content thieves (pr0n, software, etc.) also tend to get hit with infections pretty hard.

10-96

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spyware will fill your machine with all kinds of viruses, the spyware and adware and viruses will multiply. the best way to eradicate is to start it new, hpā€™s usually have the initial install on hidden partition. when you get it cleaned, install avg and malware bytes or a software for malware/adware. they are basically the same, It will destroy your OS.

Thanks barbie. Just because I have multiple Trojans does not make me delusional and thank you for pointing that out on my behalf. Much appreciated.

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Sooooo I was at the local drugstore today and they were offering free Trojans in packs of 4, so I took them and later i installed one of them in my room and boom, they came through the back door and they took over my mouse and my keyboard! My mouse was only 2 years old and I just bought that keyboard :frowning:

Lol sorry Iā€™m in a silly mood. Good luck on getting your computer fixed :slight_smile:

Windows is a messā€¦ I wish Microsoft would just start over with a new os from scratchā€¦ Linux is much more secure but is usually a pain to set up mostly because of drivers.

I still use win 8.1 with defender and malware bytes and once in awhile also run Microsoft safety scanner. I also use the ad block plug-inā€¦ I try to encrypt any docs with personal info with axcrypt or other utils. I use keepass to keep track of passwords.

Your best defense against malware is good data backups (preferably burned to disc) because sometimes the only thing left to do is reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything.

Everybody knocks Norton. Iā€™ve been using it for 7 years and I have not got ONE virus. Or those Trojan things. Someone did get into my e-mail for a month about a year AGO but nothing ever came of it.

Sounds more like a trojan malware than spyware. yes, they can do a number of nefarious things. Several years ago someone from a group I was on got one and the program mailed me an email from their account at their ip address (from their house) and neither she nor her husband was home ! It was a horrible attacking email designed to get us upset at each other!

That said, Norton is NOT the best. I used to get viruses, spyware, malware all the time with Nortonā€¦with others I rarely get them. For almost 2 years I never got a one when i requested off site protectionā€¦my own AV never even found anything so I had a firewall outside my device.