Got Spyware?...throw out your PC

[tdinc]

I just read this article at the New York Times. I got a good laugh out of it. I thought you would too.....(QUICK NOTE) because you need to have a login account. I pasted the article. sorry for this)

Corrupted PC's Find New Home in the Dumpster

SAN FRANCISCO, July 15 - Add personal computers to the list of throwaways in the disposable society.

On a recent Sunday morning when Lew Tucker's Dell desktop computer was overrun by spyware and adware - stealth software that delivers intrusive advertising messages and even gathers data from the user's machine - he did not simply get rid of the offending programs. He threw out the whole computer.Mr. Tucker, an Internet industry executive who holds a Ph.D. in computer science, decided that rather than take the time to remove the offending software, he would spend $400 on a new machine.

He is not alone in his surrender in the face of growing legions of digital pests, not only adware and spyware but computer viruses and other Internet-borne infections as well. Many PC owners are simply replacing embattled machines rather than fixing them.

"I was spending time every week trying to keep the machine free of viruses and worms," said Mr. Tucker, a vice president of Salesforce.com, a Web services firm based here. "I was losing the battle. It was cheaper and faster to go to the store and buy a low-end PC."

In the face of a constant stream of pop-up ads, malfunctioning programs and performance slowed to a crawl or a crash - the hallmarks of spyware and adware - throwing out a computer "is a rational response," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a Washington-based research group that studies the Internet's social impact.

While no figures are available on the ranks of those jettisoning their PC's, the scourge of unwanted software is widely felt. This month the Pew group published a study in which 43 percent of the 2,001 adult Internet users polled said they had been confronted with spyware or adware, collectively known as malware. Forty-eight percent said they had stopped visiting Web sites that might deposit unwanted programs on their PC's.

Moreover, 68 percent said they had had computer trouble in the last year consistent with the problems caused by spyware or adware, though 60 percent of those were unsure of the problems' origins. Twenty percent of those who tried to fix the problem said it had not been solved; among those who spent money seeking a remedy, the average outlay was $129.

By comparison, it is possible to buy a new computer, including a monitor, for less than $500, though more powerful systems can cost considerably more.

Meantime, the threats from infection continue to rise, and "the arms race seems to have tilted toward the bad guys," Mr. Rainie said.

The number of viruses has more than doubled in just the last six months, while the number of adware and spyware programs has roughly quadrupled during the same period, said Vincent Weafer, a senior director at Symantec, which makes the Norton computer security programs. One reason for the explosion, Symantec executives say, is the growth of high-speed Internet access, which allows people to stay connected to the Internet constantly but creates more opportunity for malicious programs to find their way onto machines.

Mr. Weafer said an area of particular concern was infections adept at burying themselves in a computer system so that the cleansing programs had trouble finding them. The removal of these programs must often be done manually, requiring greater technical expertise.

There are methods of protecting computers from infection through antivirus and spyware-removal software and digital barriers called firewalls, but those tools are far from being completely effective.

"Things are spinning out of control," said David Gelernter, a professor of computer science at Yale.

Mr. Gelernter said his own family's computer became so badly infected that he bought a new one this week. He said his two teenage sons were balking at spending the hours needed to scrub the old one clean of viruses, worms and adware.

Mr. Gelernter blames the software industry for the morass, noting that people are increasingly unwilling to take out their "software tweezers" to clean their machines.

"What a Moron":laugh:

 

[damnyank]

If I post my mailing address and let you send all the "throw-away systems" to me COD - will that be OK???

DY is thinking about cleaning them up and reselling them on e-bay for a couple of hundred dollars! :devious:

 

[muzikool]

You've got to be kidding me. What happens with the new computer? More spyware. That's not a solution... that's idiotic.

So what's on the hard drives of all those computers being thrown out? Pretty scary!

 

[tdinc]

This is the kicker of the whole story...."Mr. Tucker, an Internet industry executive who holds a Ph.D. in computer science"....:s

 

[Ferral_Imp]

This is the kicker of the whole story...."Mr. Tucker, an Internet industry executive who holds a Ph.D. in computer science"....:s

This just goes to show how much of a throw away society we live in now when ppl don't think twice about tossing $200-500 or more out in the trash then blow that much more for a replacement pc. Heck if they wanna throw good money away like that let them send the pc's to me and I'll clean em up and find them homes. There's lots of ppl around here that don't have access to computers other than at the local libraries who would probably love to get one of those for free.

 

[LeeJend]

The guys a complete idiot. Throw it out, BS. Donate it to a local charity and take a write off for the full value. The guys an igotistical *******.

And as for the guy who's teenagers didn't want to clean up the PC. That's easy. You don't clean you don't surf.

Only the New York times would print something that stupid.

(Well, to be fair maybe the Wahington Post would too).

 

[Xie]

Although complete stupid I think it happens more then people would like to admit. And with people buying cheapo PC's for ~$300 it's sadly almost cost effective for a n00b to do as paying $50+ a pop for someone to fix it adds up.

 

[Xie]

This is the kicker of the whole story...."Mr. Tucker, an Internet industry executive who holds a Ph.D. in computer science"....:s

To steal a quote from /. by Edsger ..

"Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."

 

[Admiral Michael]

Thats just f***ked up man. How bout he throws em this way? I got some ppl who could use a computer. (Just gave my cousin a 233Mhz upgrade win98 from a 286 win3.1 )

Think of all the garbage this would generate. :O

 

[dreamliner77]

It's like pulling over to the side of the road and abandoning your car because it ran out of gas...

Not to mention that it's their own damn fault for having so much malware.

 

[Admiral Michael]

nice analogy dreamliner77.

There are programs out there that can help control spyware/adware thats its stupid to even think of doing that. Liek firefox, spybot etc...

Also, why not just format, buying a new system would require some installation of software so why waste a perfectly good comp.

Besides why torture the hardware, its not it's fault.

 

[chastity]

Well thats got to be one of the dumbest reasons for throwing out a computer. Heck like most of the rest of you I would take them clean them up etc.

Well maybe its time to start looking in the trash etc and see what we can find in there since this happens

 

[tdinc]

Im going to find out where this guy lives and stand by the curb of his front yard when he throws out his PC and take it....

 

[Admiral Michael]

Im going to find out where this guy lives and stand by the curb of his front yard when he throws out his PC and take it....

LOL, maybe we can use them for folding

 

[falconguard]

and as mass storage too...why think of it a dedicated OSNN storage site, that folds...KCNYchief must be drooling.:laugh:

 

[Ferral_Imp]

Although complete stupid I think it happens more then people would like to admit. And with people buying cheapo PC's for ~$300 it's sadly almost cost effective for a n00b to do as paying $50+ a pop for someone to fix it adds up.

The real kicker though is that there is no real need to be bothered spending $50 a pop to clean out all the crapware cuz it's not hard to learn how to reformat a computer's hard drive. I mean if I could master reformating without any clue what I was doing beforehand and without any directions than anyone who can turn on a computer, read the screen, and can install software can learn how to reformat by looking directions up online.

 

[mlakrid]

I got two words for Mr PHD....

GHOST IMAGE...

what a freaking Marooon as Buggs would say...

 

[ejn74]

It happens a lot I have picked up a couple of computers that way. I work for a cable company so I come across these computers once in a while.
People just don't bother with protecting their computer. They now that they need home, health and auto insurance but forget to put some time in to insure that there computer will run smoothly for them

 

[Xie]

The real kicker though is that there is no real need to be bothered spending $50 a pop to clean out all the crapware cuz it's not hard to learn how to reformat a computer's hard drive. I mean if I could master reformating without any clue what I was doing beforehand and without any directions than anyone who can turn on a computer, read the screen, and can install software can learn how to reformat by looking directions up online.

Indeed but I think the majority of people don't want to be bothered with more then reading email and learning to find that "great site". Also non-computer folks believe that you need these faster and faster computers in order to read their email even faster! So when it comes time to either spend time (hours/days) to clean their computer out or upgrade (throwing old one out) they usally upgrade as the old one is "slow" (they have no idea it's soley due to all the crap on their system).

 

[lancer]

Anyone heard of Ewido, great program.

http://www.ewido.net/en/download/