horror

Spyware Horror Story: Duped by remote control

Editor's note: Last week's story on spyware as a form of domestic abuse ('Do you know your hacker?') generated much response, including very personal stories from women whose lives were at one point dominated by the kind of controlling abuse described last week. Because of the deep personal, as well as technological, impact on these users' lives, one story is featured here today. Scroll below for the editor's response or click to jump ahead.

Published by Elissa; Michigan, U.S.

Shortly after a nasty custody battle erupted with my network-hobbyist ex-husband, my once efficiently reliable technological life … Read more

Note to gadget makers: Just say no to pink

So let's say you waited till the last minute and, in a panic, caved and got a pink Nano to give for Valentine's Day. Fine. Just don't get too carried away with accessories for it, because this is living proof that there's definitely such a thing as too much pink.

U.K.-based Intempo has created a 12-watt speaker dock to go with the latest iPod, according to Tech Digest, but--judging by the photos--it has taken the pastel palette in a disturbingly neon direction. We pray that Apple isn't planning a kelly green version for … Read more

Spyware Horror Story: Do you know your hacker?

It's tempting to jam criminal hackers into a safe, distant profile. To assume the creep helping themselves to your e-mail, bank account, and surf history is a smug, slaphappy youth, or conniving foreign national. But what if you discovered that the one spying on your life was someone much, much closer?

How close? Like a parent, spouse, roommate, or significant other.

This is the topic of today's meeting in Washington. The Anti-Spyware Coalition gathered with representatives from McAfee and Google, to discuss the extent to which spyware abuse also constitutes domestic abuse.

Anna Stepanov, the Anti-Spyware program manager … Read more

Stress, drama, vivid virus nightmares

Published by William; Sydney, Australia

In our house, we used to share a computer. I had Spybot - Search & Destroy and Norton Antivirus installed on it, and I became the scanning boss since my parents barely knew how to click a mouse. After about a year, I discovered "DriveCleaner" in the program manager window. I tried uninstalling it, got an error, then saw the progress bar roll backward fairly fast. At least these malware people have a sense of humor.

But then: My computer was exceedingly slow and gave me constant pop-up problems. Stress session. I tried … Read more

Do you have a license to drive that browser?

Published by Al, Port Alberni, Canada

I'm a 57-year-old retired truck driver with three stepdaughters, two of whom don't think the old man knows a thing about computers. Little do they know that I have a BA in computer science and can run circles around all of their friends. One time, the oldest girl's computer got so clogged up it would freeze, and the only way out was to hard-boot it. I cleaned it up, but there was so much damage done to the OS that I had to reformat the drive and do a fresh install … Read more

Your spyware may just be dust bunnies

I'll be the first to admit that the appearance of an ominously blue, ominously blank screen followed by an instant shut-down smacks of malware. Well, it smacks of something, and file-eating, process-disrupting intruders are the most likely cause.

They're also the most convenient excuse for explaining away perplexing computer abnormality. As Sara from Southend, U.K., reminds us, however, that might not be exactly the case.

Complete your scans, by all means, but if nothing suspicious turns up, start looking at your hardware, particularly if it's a few years old. Dust, crumbs, and other crud pile up, … Read more

Transplant surgery for your infected hard drive

What do you do when the spyware you're trying to pluck free from a hard drive is smarter than it looks? If you're most people, something drastic involving extra money, time, or hired professionals. If you're Ravi, something else entirely.

Find out the trick up Ravi's sleeve in this week's Spyware Horror Story.

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Spyware Horror Story: Dying on dial-up

It's amazing to think there are people out there still using dial-up, and that anyone hit with dial-up disabling spyware would, to be blunt, care. Though he has high-speed Internet, Jonathan does care, and reminds us that plenty of users out there have their own reasons for sticking with telephone-ordered Internet. For many folks, a dial-up disaster is an Internet disaster.

Read Jonathan's tale of spyware aggravation, or scroll through all Spyware Horror Stories.

Spyware reroutes home-network plan

Julio knows enough about spyware to recognize it when he sees it. And he does. An afternoon of setting up his friend's wireless home network gets detoured as Julio pulls out every trick he remembers to rid his friend's PC of the offending adware.

However, splintering the Trojan is only half the battle. The other half resides in wireless network security. Will Julio remember all the tricks of making home networks secure?

Read up on it in this week's Spyware Horror Story.

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Windows themes hide danger

While searching for new Windows themes, Saad finds an inauspicious link in a Web forum that leads to an invasion of unwanted software on his PC. Luckily, he follows the advice of CNET Download.com editors to restore his system to a healthy state.

Get advice for avoiding similar dangerous sites during your own Web browsing sessions. Read Saad's tale of Windows theme woes in this week's Spyware Horror Story.

>>See all Spyware Horror Stories