Spyware and XP

[omega]

I haveheard some rumors about there being spyware on XP, is this true or just a load of crap

Thanks

 

[gothic]

XP does have a yearning to "phone home", but only with your permission, and only for activation purposes.
Having said that, I use ZoneAlarm firewall, and it has twice reported that Internet Explorer was trying to act as a server, and the address it gave coincidentally happened to be that of Microsoft, Seattle. Make of that what you wish.

There are pieces of software, like download accelerators, that do include advertising spyware, as does ACDSee (if you let it), but these seldom hide the fact.

I do have further suspicions about the number of ports that XP likes to keep active, and have read up on it as much as possible, but i'm afraid there is little hard evidence!!!