“Along with worrying about viruses and software problems, computer users in the area and around the country are now having to worry more and more about spyware programs,” Nick Claussen writes for The Athens (Ohio) News. “Spyware programs are downloaded onto people’s computers, usually without them knowing it, and they then send information from the computers to businesses through the Internet. Spyware programs often slow down computers, make them not act properly while on-line, and can completely freeze up computer systems.”

“‘It’s pretty common,’ confirmed Sean O’Malley, IT communication manager for Ohio University’s Communication Network Services (CNS). ‘It’s one of the bigger problems we have.’ Jed Collins, an employee at Vere Smith Connecting Point Computer Center on West Union Street, said that he, too, has been answering plenty of questions from area residents having spyware problems with their computers,” Claussen writes. “Collins explained that if you download anything online, especially something that’s free, you might get some kind of spyware.”

“The spyware puts a program onto your computer that sends out information about the Web sites you have been visiting and the things you have done online to companies that track these actions. Spyware programs can actually take your computer online even if you don’t want the computer to log onto the Internet, just so it can send out information, Collins said,” Claussen writes. “Collins and O’Malley both said they have seen computers infected so badly with spyware that they had to be wiped clean. Collins said that often spyware programs can be taken off computes easily, but sometimes they have to be taken off by having the whole system wiped clean.”

Claussen reports, “Meanwhile, if you own a Macintosh computer, you probably won’t have spyware problems, since for the most part they infect PCs and not Macs.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: For our Windows-only friends interested in a better way, you can find information about adding a safe, secure, powerful, and fun Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal here.

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