Spamware

  Spyware

  Evils of the Internet

Internet Shop News
   

….”Fight SPAM with SPAMfighter”

WHOA!!  Another Day,  Another MORPH....
How SPYWARE is becoming a major MENACE to the Internet.

NOTICE TO OUR CUSTOMERS: SPYWARE is "morphing", meaning it is changing from harmless to harmful. We have had numerous situations lately where our customers report their computer is running slow. Once we have a chance to look at their computer, we are often discovering many malicious SPYWARE programs in the computer. Some of them change the way your computer works. Some of them deny you service to the Internet in various ways.

 Try downloading/running some of these FREE tools:**

To check for SPYWARE, we like:
Spybot,** which you can download/install from:
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10122137.html?part=104443&subj=dlpage&tag=button

We also like Ad-Aware:**
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button
 

** PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INTERNET SHOP DOES NOT PROVIDE TECH SUPPORT FOR THESE PRODUCTS! READ, DOWNLOAD, INSTALL, AND USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!! 
      

What you should know about fixing spyware

     Greetings spyware masters....or victims! If you're a victim of the spyware menace, here is what your symptoms will be: the computer runs slow, when you open the internet, a blank page may come up and in the address bar it will say "about:blank". When you open the internet, you will get pop-ups and you would not be able to go to your own home page. These are the most common symptoms, and, unfortunately, there are no easy fixes, but here are some things to try:

1.     Go into Start-Run- and type msconfig and press enter. A General tab will come up, look at the bottom and UNCHECK "Load Startup Items." Click Apply then reboot. You will be amazed at how much faster your computer will run....but....there may be some things that you need in the startup. One of them may be Norton Antivirus (NAV). Once you reboot, go into Start-Run- and type msconfig and press enter. There are tabs along the top, click on Startup. If there are no items check marked, then I suggest you reinstall NAV, to have your virus protection working. If you do see something check marked, that is not a good sign. Especially if the name of the file in startup has a weird, unreadable name such as ewffgaertr.exe. This could indicate a type of virus or spyware. If you have this thing, run your NAV install to see if it can be fixed. Otherwise it would be best to let a professional take care of it.

2.     This is a bit more "techie" for some but this simple program, "HijackThis" will display much of what is happening when you start your computer and how your computer acts. You can download "Hijackthis" from URL:  http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html Download it to your desktop, then double click to start Hijackthis. Click on "Scan." Perhaps a long list will come up, these are things that run when you reboot, and things that control how your computer works. The idea here is to "Uncheck" the things you don't need. The trick here is to KNOW what to uncheck. Put simply: if it looks legitimate and or you don't know what it is, do not put a checkmark next to it. The items will be cleaned off, then reboot. If you continue to have problems after running msconfig and Hijackthis, save yourself some grief and take it to RAM Computers for cleanup!!

Learn more - read RAM Computers newsletter. http://www.ramcomputers-inc.com Click the newsletter link
 

Learn what to do about them.

We have attempted to help our internet customers cope with spam. We will try to keep this chart up to date. Please note that this information is also available at http://www.ramcomputers-inc.com/, or by acquiring a custom internet setup CD from our office. If you come by, all we ask is that you provide your user name, password, and allow us to make sure your account with us is correct and up-to-date.

We've greatly expanded this information to include 6 of the most common complaints we get from our internet customers:

1. Spam, internet junk email, we all have it and it doesn't matter if you have internet shop mail or msn, or hotmail, or AOL! You can try mailwasher for free.

2. Hackers, computer invaders. You are more vulnerable if you have high speed internet! You can get ZoneAlarm for free!

3. Spyware, nusiance software that lurks in the background and watches you work and where you go on the internet! Try SpyGone for free!

4. Virus, that age old nemesis of the computer age. You can get free  Antivirus from grisoft.com. The AVG antivirus program highlights the following:

5. Popups, the newest aggravation coming from the internet. Stop the popups by getting popup stopper free at panicware.com.

6. Adult sites, porn, etc. You will need parental control which is a part of Internet Explorer, or you may go to cybersitter.com and acquire it for around $40.00.

5500 North Western # 101-C
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73118
(405) 848-7000 Fax: (405) 848-5477