Guest Author - Debbie Jacobsen

The other day a co-worker approached me for advice on an issue she was having with her home computer. She said it was running really slow and “freezing” up on her whenever she tried to back up her data to CD. She felt that her hard drive was full, and asked if I could help her copy her files to CD, and then delete all the files from the hard drive. I immediately suspected “spyware”, and proceeded to ask a few questions to see what I was getting into.

The sick Dell computer was about a year and a half old, and she uses Time Warner’s “Roadrunner” broadband service to access the internet. She uses the internet for email, shopping, and online banking/bill paying, and her teenage son uses the computer to do his homework, play games, and to access MySpace. She knew she was using antivirus software, because this software came preinstalled on the computer when she bought it. She did not know which anti virus product was running, and admitted she had never purchased an update subscription. She did tell me that she received pop up messages telling her that her computer was no longer protected, but considered these messages “annoying”, and simply ignored them.

I had a feeling this computer was in bad shape, but agreed to have a look...

The first three attempts to start Windows failed, as I could only get Windows XP to go as far as the logon screen before “freezing”. I suspected that there were many spyware applications attempting to access the internet, and consuming all of her system’s resources, so I disconnected the Ethernet cable (which connects the computer to the internet) and restarted. The computer started up fine without internet, but ran very slow. A quick check of running processes (ctrl + alt + del lets you see what’s running) revealed numerous “strange sounding” applications running in the background. This was spyware for sure!

In order to get this computer up to a semi-functional state, I uninstalled around 12 applications that I knew to be spyware and/or adware. My co-worker says she never downloaded or installed anything, so I guess the culprit was her son (?). I uninstalled BearShare first, which is a dangerous “Peer to Peer” file sharing application. Following that, I uninstalled three shopping toolbars (known as “adware”), a weather application, a free spam remover (which probably created even more spam), a free adware remover (which was probably “spyware” in disguise), and several free games and screensavers (more disguised adware and spyware).

After uninstalling everything known to contain adware or spyware, the computer’s performance improved significantly and I was able to connect to the internet without “freezing up”. Windows Automatic Update service warned that this computer had never been patched or updated, and the preinstalled antivirus product had expired a year ago. I knew this computer was probably infected with numerous instances of viruses, spyware, and adware, and that the best course of action may be to reformat the hard drive and install a fresh operating system, but I wanted to download and install a good internet security suite in an attempt to disinfect it and “fix” all the problems.

I explained the issues to my co-worker, and she was totally surprised. She admitted she knew nothing about the dangers on the internet, nor the importance of using Windows Update or Antivirus/Anti-Spyware software. She also knew nothing about what her son was doing online, and wanted to use an internet security suite that also included Parental Controls. This would keep him away from websites that she didn’t want him visiting, and would also prevent him from downloading and installing more dangerous software. We decided on Panda Internet Security Suite, which is an easy-to-use product that includes antivirus, anti-spyware, a spam filter, a personal firewall, and parental control software.

Believe it or not, most home computers that I am asked to “fix” are heavily infected with viruses, spyware and adware, just as this PC was. I have also found that a large percentage of users are not aware of the dangers that exist online, and have no idea what they need to do to protect themselves. Many of problems that my colleague experienced could probably have been avoided if she had installed the patches that Windows Automatic Update Service downloaded for her, and renewed her antivirus software subscription. If she had done these two things and refrained from downloading and installing free software, her computer would not be “limping” now.

Stay tuned for the outcome of Panda Internet Security's Virus and Spyware scan, and the results of my efforts to restore this computer to working order...