Please tell me I'm paranoid

[Hanky]

It is my perception that my PC is broadcasting things about me to whoever put a spy in.(spammer)
What I mean is I get these spams with titles of people I have emailed or similer and even even things that are related to websites I visit. Today what sent me over the edge was a spam entitled print screen and it arrived less than an hour after did a grab operation.
Any thoughts on this?

[DigitalDiva]

Do you have a anti-spyware program? If you don't I would suggest getting one, I use CA but still think somehow they tell by the ip address you're using. When were in Hawaii all the ads on the sides of web pages are from that location or whatever city were in.

[Hanky]

I have the one from yahoo,sbc. It is probably the Ford Pinto of spyware removers.
Also I'm convinced my Dell is a zombie.

[CaptainTom]

" Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me."
Lt/Col Oliver North

[Bella]

Try Spybot and Ad-aware to look for spyware on your computer. It could also be what the Diva suggested . . .that they're targeting you through your IP address.

-Cindy

[synoptic]

get the AVG spyware software. They have a free edition that last for like 30 days. free.grisoft.com

[AndrewCCM]

Throw ZoneAlarm on your machine too. It'll lock down anything being sent out from your machine to the internet. You can then tell it which apps you want to have access. If you see something odd going on with one of the warnings, it'll help you track it down.

[DigitalDiva]

Originally Posted by Bella

the Diva

that just sounds so, um ME! JK

[JamesB]

read this. it is a good and trusted source for anti-spy ware/virus and bad bug removal stuff. I use all the programs listed in this post and they keep my system clean.

you only need to follow steps 1 to 6 for now

http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43902


if you run all the tools and still have problems you can register at that site and post some logs to see if they can help you clean your system

James

[pippin]

you're paranoid.



Hey, you told us to tell you!

[DigitalDiva]

HeHe! I was so tempted but fought the urge. Does anybody else hear that noise? Oh, it's just a broadcaster.

[photonewb]

Originally Posted by DigitalDiva

HeHe! I was so tempted but fought the urge. Does anybody else hear that noise? Oh, it's just a broadcaster.

that buzzing sound? no it's nothing, here you want a tin foil hat like mine? it keeps the noises out, I promise

[ndsimm]

I run Panda internet Security and it does a good job, but once a week, I run the free online scan from Trend Micro and it catches one or two that Panda misses.

[studiocygnet]

Originally Posted by photonewb

that buzzing sound? no it's nothing, here you want a tin foil hat like mine? it keeps the noises out, I promise

Actually, you need to put aluminum foil in all your windows, and on your roof, shiny side out, to reflect back the transmissions.

[adirty1]

Originally Posted by studiocygnet

Actually, you need to put aluminum foil in all your windows, and on your roof, shiny side out, to reflect back the transmissions.

you laugh but that's next on the list for my computer is to install the radiant heat barrier that works better than tin foil.

back to the post at hand. If you have a router you should be good. if youd don't have a router you might want to get one and make sure the firewall is on. In my opinion running all these extra programs just take away recourses from you computer that your computer could be using for other things. thus the firewall on the router doing what it's made to do and free up your computer to do what you want it to do..

If your running IE stop and start using firefox. we has been slowly getting everyone in the office off IE to FF and have noticed a great improvement with spyware.

we used to run spybot and adware personally I am not a fan of either one. seemed like more problems than what they really where worth.

something else that seemed to help was to limit the cache space and get a really good virus checker. Norton 10.1 works great but isnt cheap there are some free ones out there that work just as well. check cnet or zd news.