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'You've Got Spyware!'


Bombardier

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America Online is fighting fire with fire.

Many consumers are upset that Web sites are sneaking around their hard drives to install spyware. The next version of AOL's software is going to sneak around users' hard drives to root out spyware.

In the next few weeks, AOL plans to release an update to AOL 9.0 with the addition of spyware-fighting software as one of the main improvements.

About a week after the new version is installed, the software will automatically scan the computer for spyware. Then it will present a list of what it has discovered.

Users will then have a choice of what to do next. They can ignore the spyware, or they can read descriptions of each program found and decide whether to block it. But AOL figures that most people will hit the big green Block All button.

Unlike some anti-spyware programs, the AOL software - which comes from a small Florida company called Aluria Software - does not remove the spyware; it simply disables it.

That way, if it turns out that blocking the spyware also inhibits some other software program, the action can be reversed.

The software does not identify or block cookies - the small files used by Web sites to keep track of what Internet surfers do - as many spyware-blocking programs do. Rather, it just looks for covert programs that display ads or monitor users.

The AOL program gives users various options for how it can be configured. But by default, it will continue to scan users' hard drives once a week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/22/technolo...its/22site.html

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i dont use or want AOL at all, but, i do hope they take the spyware out of everything!

im saying this because, this week i installed AIM, i needed it to get a hold of someone, after i sent my message, i un-installed it, did a search for AOL and deleted all i found, then i ran adaware and came up with 89 pieces of crap, spybot found 4 more.

so i hope they do what they say!

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