Gain (Gator) ? The Virus
It just amazes me how there are companies out there, claiming to be legitimate businesses, who are distributing what can only be known as spyware, adware, malware, badware, and viruses. These companies get away with it due to obscure clauses and legal double-speak in their terms of agreements, if they bother to have one at all. Some websites will download unwanted spyware and badware on your computer without any consent from you at all. They claim that all of this information gathering has a legitimate purpose and that people are over-reacting. Some people do not know what a virus is. It is simply a program. Just like any other program you download and use everyday. It must be installed onto your computer. The difference between a virus and a legitimate program lies in the purpose for which it was created. A legitimate program was created to help you perform a task. A virus was created to harm your computer or steal information from you. The other difference is the first one is legal, the latter is not. A virus is legitimately defined as an executable program, however, any script or macro should be included in that definition in my opinion. If they are written with the intent of causing harm to a user?s computer or they are written and installed on a user?s computer in order to gather information on that user, then they are no better and no different than a virus, and should fall under the same laws that apply to viruses. If these programs like GAIN, Gator, and WinFixer are so legitimate, why are the techniques they use to install it on a user?s computer so sly? Why are they using these sneaky tactics, such as downloading it onto someone?s computer without disclosing what it actually is to the user in a clear manner? Why do they write their malware, badware, and adware in such a way as to have it resist your efforts to remove it from your computer? Your computer is something you bought and paid for. You have the right to decide what will be installed on your computer. Anyone who writes a program that resists your ability to choose to remove it is a violation of your rights. Our elected officials don?t know how to surf the web for the most part, let alone actually understand what the definition of a virus is and how to legislate against spyware and malware. Software companies who write legitimate programs lobby them to make sure they do not pass any laws that regulate the sale of software. Example: Name any other product or service where you must pay up front for it before you even see the contract you must sign and agree to before you can use it? Not only that, but large corporations support the use of malware, adware, spyware, badware, and viruses that gather information from users without their knowledge. They in turn buy that information to build their own consumer databases and use that information to sell you products. They pay to know what your habits are. As long as they are willing to pay for that information, companies like GAIN will continue to steal it from user?s and sell it to these companies. If you want to know how many programs on your computer are gathering information about you, you will need to get some type of spyware detection software. There are several available, however, be careful, some of those advertising the removal of spyware are actually installing it on your computer themselves. Make sure you do a search in your favorite search engine to find out about the brand of software you are thinking of downloading. If your computer is infected with Gator or GAIN, you may have to use anti-virus software to remove it. Many of the anti-virus companies have removal instructions on their website. If GAIN were a legitimate company and legitimate software, it?s highly doubtful it would have to be removed by an anti-virus program. I hope this article has been helpful to you. GAIN, WinFixer, and other programs that act in this unethical manner should be considered viruses and held accountable for the harm they do to your computer and liable for the time it takes to remove them. That?s my opinion. D. David Dugan is the president of DD&C (<a href=http://www.dugancom.com>http://www.dugancom.com</a>) and personally helps to maintain their computer support forum at <a href=http://forum.dugancom.com> http://forum.dugancom.com</a> as well as their Spyware Information site <a href=http://spyware.dugancom.com> http://spyware.dugancom.com</a>.
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How The New Computer User Can Reduce Spam
Every computer user gets spam in their email almost daily. There is just no way to avoid junk email unless you want to delete it without reading it. Yes, you can compare it to those telemarketers who call you at dinnertime (or any other time). There is no way to avoid having an email address on the computer because if you have an account, you must have an email address to do business on the Internet. Someone will find a way to contact you either by phone, snail mail or email to try to “sell” you an idea, plan, or a product. There is just no escaping junk email if you have an account on the Internet, and this unwanted email can become annoying at times. Spam filters are used by most of the Internet Service Providers such as American Online. The computer user fills out a list of overused spam words in the email settings filter and saves it. After the settings go into effect, any any future email containing the spam word that you inserted into the filter will not make it into your email account. You may get spam in your spam folder, but some of it may be email you may want to read. If you want the email in your regular email , you can whitelist the email address in your address book so that the email is sent directly to your email account. Be cautious in revealing your personal email address, for privacy or for safety reasons as well as avoiding spam. Do not let fear of spammers limit your time on the Internet forums or groups, as you can use a free email address or a disposable email account such as those on Hotmail, Mail.com, and Yahoo. Addresses from these accounts are often used by people to guard their privacy on forums and groups on the Web. When you feel that you know someone trustworthy, you can give them your personal email address. But have at least one or two different free disposable email addresses to cut the spamming in the personal email account. Avoid responding to unsolicited spam as it will confirm your address to the spammer which could, in turn, send you even more spam than you will ever want to see. Also if you answer or complain about the offensive emails it may only come back to your email address as undeliverable or may be sent to some other annoyed computer user’s address. You can call or email your Internet Service Provider and ask what their procedure is in blocking spam. Several years ago, I remember sending manually a few hundred junk emails back to the Report Abuse team at my free email account. This worked very well as it has not happened again. Find out from your Internet Service Provider how they can help you end the onslaught of spam. Usually the spammer’s account will be terminated or shut down if there are enough complaints from consumers. Check with Spam Cop and Network Abuse Clearninghouse’s resources and information for people who receive spam. These informative resources can contact the Internet Service Providers so that the spammer is made aware of complaints, although at times they may not always be accurate. Remember that the spam will continue if people remain complacent or just too lazy to report it. Reducing the level of spam in your mailbox may take a little time and effort on your part. What you can also do is start blocking certain email addresses that come from repeated spammers. The junk emails are then blocked before they even reach your mailbox address. Again, set up the spam filter to block emails containing certain spam words so that you will not receive them. These two techniques alone will reduce the onslaught of unwanted junk emails in your personal email account. The computer user must be careful of not clicking on email attachments from unknown senders as they can contain various types of viruses and infectious worms that can harm your computer or files. If you did not request a email to be sent to you, do not open an attachment as it could be a worm. You do not want to pay for expensive computer repairs. These problems, in turn, can be avoided if you have a strong firewall and good antivirus software in place on your computer. Do not be indifferent and believe that it will not happen to you. Be cautious, and try to research on protecting your computer. your online and offline privacy, and your Internet account. John Chan is a writer and researcher who has a an interest in the Internet. His website is <a href="http://www.theantispamguide.com" title="http://www.theantispamguide.com" target="_blank">http://www.theantispamguide.com</a> and <a href="http://www.ezantispam.com" title="http://www.ezantispam.com" target="_blank">http://www.ezantispam.com</a>
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