It’s true, identity theft and the compromise of personal data is big business. And spyware blockers and antivirus programs are not necessarily your friend in the fight against it. In fact a lot are actual culprits used by cyber criminals themselves.

The facts, set out in Australia’s new “BLK MKT” cyber-safety campaign, are startling: an identity is stolen every three seconds, with 43 million fake antivirus and spyware programs downloaded every year.

You see these fake spyware blockers and anti-virus programs log all your keystrokes and give the criminals all your sensitive data, including passwords. It’s the perfect crime, using security software to install a false sense of security and then using that exact program to steal your life!

From this information fake passports, driver licenses and other documents can be easily made. You may suddenly find that someone has stolen your identity and you’re a wanted person at the other end of the world.

65 percent of the world’s 2 billion internet users have fallen for cyber crime in some shape or form. This business is now being touted as more lucrative than the illegal drugs trade. That is astonishing, and very frightening at the same time. Because when something is worth so much money more and more people get into it. And more people get even more creative and cunning to get an edge. There are a lot of clever people out there and they’re on the hunt.

Australia is trying to raise awareness by informing the public. Their main stance is that you lock your doors and house to keep out criminals but you also have to safeguard your computer. They plan on doing displays in a mobile shipping container that shows you how an unprotected computer can be compromised in four minutes.

They recently discovered details of 1000 Australians for sale on a Vietnamese website which included people’s credit card numbers.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. You can protect yourself and the best way is to install reputable spyware blockers or antivirus programs. In fact both would be best. It is just not worth trying to download a free version of one of these. The risk is too great and actually the price of a decent program is relatively cheap. Especially taking into account what your computer and identity is worth.

Are spyware and spam really big business? I’ve begun to wonder what actually people achieve from creating spyware, trojans, spam and viruses. Is it productive for them or are they just people who are really bored with nothing better to do. The spyware blockers and ant-virus industry is huge and maybe they have something to do with it?

I really don’t know anymore. I watch my computer and get tired of the amount of times my spyware and anti-virus software updates with new fixes. But I have to say it has been a while since I had any annoying popup ads or unwanted changes to my tool bar. So I guess my Spyware Doctor is working.

But then I also get tired of clearing my junk mail folder in my email client. It’s truly amazing how many spam emails I get. Do these people really believe that I will actually read one of these and take action on their email. Some don’t actually make any sense.

Then there are the spam blog comments on my blog! Those are clearly some kind of blackhat search engine optimization technique, which undoubtedly the search engines would not be stupid enough to pay attention to. Yet still, I get hundreds of these every week!

Spam, spyware and viruses are making me tired. Is the world wide web just full of this rubbish? What will happen in twenty years time, will the world wide web come to a standstill because it is full of rubbish. Has it become a toxic dump for mindlessness?

I guess I’m just having a bad day and am tired of ‘cleaning’ my email, desktop and blog, EVERY DAY! Leave me alone. I have work to do you know and object to this invasion of my space, albeit on my computer. There I’ve had my rant.

The good thing is, and there is a good thing, the software I have to install to keep me sane from these attacks does actually work.

I use Microsoft Outlook and this comes with its own spam filter and I have to say it works. Although you can’t help looking into the junk folder, can you? I always wonder if there’s some important email sitting in there that needs my attention. So, although it is automatically put in there by my spam filter I still feel the need to scan those emails. That’s my personal issue that I have to deal with I guess!

Then there’s the spam blog commenting on my blogs. I use Akismet which works great. It automatically detects a lot of spam. Again, I always have the tendency to want to check out these comments in case someone is trying to actually communicate with my blog. Inevitably it’s hardly ever the case. Just a string of nonsense which some genius thinks will help get his website ranking high in Google, moron. Do you really think I would auto approve my blog comments?

Then there is the spyware and viruses. These are without a doubt the nastiest beasts out there and can cause the most damage. In fact I lost one computer to these criminals.

My first experience of these was probably about two years ago when my laptop started to show pop up ads and other nonsense. Even my homepage had changed by itself. I did a search on Google and it was a classic case of Spyware.

So, I did a search for Spyware Blockers and then realized the magnitude of this problem. I’d never heard of spyware but when I searched for spyware blockers and spyware removers I was suddenly inundated with huge choice.

I started to read up about how your computer gets infected by viruses and spyware. I eventually opted to install Spyware Search and Destroy and Malware bytes. They both worked great and got rid of the offender(s).

I then ran spyware search and destroy on a regular basis and all was good for a while. Then last year on my desktop I got something that really shook me.

I started to get messages, that looked like windows messages, saying that I had spyware and should ‘click here’ to fix the problem. I wasn’t about to click on this baby as I had read somewhere that this was just spyware trying to get me to buy a spyware blocker/remover.

So, I tried and tried to cancel out of it but it never allowed me to. Eventually my whole pc froze up. I left it for ages hoping it would return but no. So then I pressed the power button and tried to reboot. That was the end of my PC!

I got the dreaded black screen every time I booted. My hard drive was gone and the boot.ini had been wiped too. This virus, Trojan or spyware, whatever it was ruined my computer. I was livid!

So, I tried to see the positive side of it, there was one I guess. My computer was out of date and it was time for an upgrade. So, I bought myself a new PC and the first thing I did was install a spyware blocker and anti-virus program.

That was when I came across Spyware Doctor with Antivirus. This looked ideal because it had both a spyware blocker and an anti-virus program, in one. There were lots of reviews online, probably mostly by PCTools.

No, seriously it seemed like a top notch piece of software. And I have to say I have not been disappointed. It is very easy to install and basically does everything without your intervention. This aspect I really liked.

After the initial setup you just leave it to do its stuff. It downloads what it calls a smart update almost every day. Which is reassuring an also a bit worrying. It means there are new spyware and viruses coming online all the time.

Spyware Doctor also runs a regular scan. It does what it calls intelli-scans, which are quick scans and then also a full scan once a week. Although, you can manually run a scan whenever you want. You can also set it so that it just deletes any offenders automatically or get it to tell you when it finds something.

It even stops me browsing websites that are deemed dangerous. So, I would thoroughly recommend Spyware Doctor. It is easy to use and I think a bargain for the peace of mind you get with it.

I have to say that Spyware Doctor from PCTools is a great piece of software. It works perfectly and to date I have not had any further infections. It must easily be one of the best spyware blockers on the market. It has won many industry awards and is regularly recommended in magazines.

The next thing on my list is my smart phone. I have yet to experience any spyware infecting my phone but I’m sure it’s on the way and I’ll need some kind of special software for my phone that will stop spyware and viruses!

I’ve unfortunately had to use Spyware Doctors support services quite a bit lately. First of all I managed to get infected by a trojan which Spyware Doctor could not remove! I was not too happy with this as I expect my spyware blockers to do their work. Every time the scan ran it identified the bug but told me it couldn’t clean it.

So, I sent an email via the support page to ask for a fix. After six days I’d had no response. So, I bit the bullet and decided to go on chat with them. I was not so keen on this as I have never had good experience dealing with support personal over chat. Inevitably they ask many silly questions and chew up a lot of your time.

In this case it was no different. After 45 minutes I decided to end the chat and ‘think’ about it. I did discover during the process that Spyware Doctor does not automatically update its software, which I was surprised by. I had to reinstall Spyware Doctor in order to get the latest version running.

In the end I resorted back to support via email and did receive a technical response which involved me starting up in safe mode and running the scan. Which fixed the problem.

I then noticed that my Spyware Doctor decides by itself to run in game mode. I sent another email asking why this is. That was about 5 weeks ago! I still have had no response.

Spyware Doctor is a great product but my experience with their support is extremely disappointing. I expect much better service from premium Spyware Blockers!

Spyware Blockers & Anti spyware solutions can be found all over the internet and are aimed at protecting your computer and information from attacks.

By using a program like Spyware Doctor which comes highly recommended (there have been over 125 million downloads of this anti spyware program), you can easily protect your PC.

Most magazine editors and technical experts will recommend this product above anything else currently on the market. Not only is Spyware Doctor a Spyware Blocker & Remover but it has Antivirus software built in too.

Let’s take a look at Spyware Doctor and see what it is all about.

Spyware Doctor is made by PCTools, a well known security software company. This product has been a huge success for them and they have justified that by constantly improving it. The latest version with anti-virus built in is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.

Spyware Doctor takes care of everything once you install it. It runs in the background and for me the most important thing is this; it doesn’t chew up all your CPU whilst doing that! Yes, it runs and you don’t even realize. Regular scans are performed, dodgy websites are blocked and it downloads updates all the time.

PCTool’s Spyware Doctor is really a ‘switch it on and leave it’ application. There’s a quick launch icon, which when opened shows you everything that is happening, in a very easy to use screen. At a glance you can see when the last scan ran,  when the last spyware update was and which settings are on.

I personally am extremely happy with it and believe that for the price you cannot get a better product. The fact you have a spyware blocker and an antivirus program in one is a real bonus. You don’t have to buy separate programs for these functions anymore.  This was an extremely smart move from PCTools.

The main thing is that it works, is easy to use and is extremely reliable. You can find tons of great reviews online about Spyware Doctor. And they’re not only from people trying to sell the product. They’re from people like myself who use it and recommend it to friends, family and colleagues. This makes the product that much more credible, so you can feel more comfortable in downloading it.

There is online support via email or even live chat. I have used live chat myself and would recommend this if you want a prompt reply.

And you can also be confident because they have a huge team of programmers creating fixes for all the latest spyware and viruses. That’s why the smart update happens so often. But, you don’t even need to know about it, it just does it all on auto pilot.

There have been over 125 million downloads of this anti spyware program which means that you can be sure of its reliability. People have trusted Spyware Doctor since 2005 and still will for many years to come. In most countries around the world including America, Australia, and the UK, Spyware Doctor works very well at getting rid of all potential threats. These include Adware, Spyware, Trojans, Identity Theft, Hijackers, Rogue Anti-Spyware, Keyloggers, Tracking Threats, Unwanted Software, Bad Websites, Phishing, and Popups.

If you are looking for something reliable and one that works, then Spyware Doctor is it. It has been recommended by millions of people around the world. It has also won various industry awards since its release in 2005, this is one of the true anti-spyware and anti-virus solutions that you cannot go wrong with. I fully recommend it.

Click on the link for more information about Spyware Doctor AntiVirus 2010 and FREE SCAN

Spyzooka from Blue Penguin Software is fast becoming one of the top Spyware Blockers on the market. Spyware Doctor needs to be very wary of this competitor because there is almost nothing between them.

In fact they offer a Guarantee of 100% removal of all Spyware! That is pretty amazing. What happens is that if Spyzooka does not get rid of a particular piece of Spyware on the first scan, you contact their support team. Then within 24 hours they send you an update that will remove it. Their programmers look at it and give you a fix.

It is understandable that that may happen of course. As new spyware is constantly being developed and circulated. So, it is reasonable that most Spyware Blockers cannot keep up. This idea from Blue Penguin is a great solution, I love it.

As far as I know, no one else offers such a guarantee. Price wise it is very competitive too and is getting lots of solid and positive reviews in the market now.

And this is nothing like the old Spyzooka. That was a bit clunky and unreliable. They’ve listened to peoples comments and changed it completely. Now it is a lean, mean, fighting machine!

The application itself is not large – 5mb. And it runs quickly too. A quick scan is about 3 minutes whereas a full scan around 15 minutes. That’s great, free spyware programs can take hours to do the same work.

It has a live module called Spyguard and you can also schedule scans.

And we can tell you that it does not generate any false positives. For those of you who don’t kwow, a lot of free spyware will generate warnings about spyware that doesn’t actually exist on your computer, to scare you or make you purchase a product. Spyzooka was tested on a clean machine and it showed no threats or warnings.

There is a free trial so you have nothing to lose, and currently there is also a 10% discount on it (click on the link).

Get 10% Off Your Spyzooka or RegZooka Order. [Coupon Code: SPY10].

Spyware Blockers

Learn in this video what spyware is and how you can determine if you have it or not.

I decided to give the top two spyware blockers on the market a run for their money. I took a clean machine and thought I would see how much spyware I could get it infected by. And then run the spyware blockers on it to see what they came up with and compare the results.

Spyware Doctor is undoubtedly the best seller in the market place. Spyware Doctor is created and distributed by PCTools. Spyzooka, from Blue Penguin Software, has been gaining ground lately, especially with their 100% guarantee of spyware removal.

So, to infect my machine I visited some shady sites and downloaded freeware that wasn’t very safe. It didn’t take long before the popup ads started appearing on my machine. Plus, browsing started to slow down. I assumed at this point I had been successful in getting my machine infected.

First, I downloaded and ran Spyzooka. First I did a quick scan – no infections. I then did a full scan – still no infections. I was a bit surprised by this. It did tell me however that if I sent the scan report to them they would make sure to send me a fix to remove any spyware present.

Next I ran Spyware Doctor. Again, first I did a quick scan – 100 infections! They were ;

69 application tracking cookies
25 adware advertising
6 rogue antispyware

The first two were low threat but the last was a medium. I ran the spyware doctor cleanup and hey presto my machine was back to normal!

Now, Spyzooka may well have come back and done the same job but I would have really wanted it to pick them up straight away.

I was very impressed with Spyware Doctor and in this test it is still one of the best spyware blockers around.

Every body loves something for nothing, and why not? Especially computer software. It seems almost accepted these days that you can download a free similar version of any piece of software available on the market. But with Spyware Blockers you have to be VERY careful.

First of all, why would someone give you something for nothing? It is lead generation, they will follow up with offers for other products that you may well have to pay for. Or the free version of the software you just downloaded only has limited capabilities. To get the full benefit you have to upgrade to a paid version.

Having said that, there are good free spyware blockers, ones that work relatively well. Spybot Search and Destroy being a fine example.

However, spyware, adware and malware are constantly being developed and it is a battle for any Spyware Blocker to keep on top. Any real good Spyware Blocker will update almost daily. Behind this is required a team of programmers to develop fixes against any new syware.

It makes sense that any free software won’t be able to do this very well. Whereas established pay for Spyware Blockers have teams working on fixes all the time. Take Spyzooka for instance, the only reason they can offer a 100% guarantee of spyware removal is because they have programmers who can quickly come up with a fix for any new threats that you encounter.

And, remember that most spyware finds its way onto your computer via free downloads. There are plenty of ‘spyware blockers’ that are actually spyware themselves!

Beware of these (they are all spyware!) – MalwareStopper, Anti Virus Pro 2010, Dr AntiSpy, NoMalware, AntiSpyCheck, Spy-Rid, SpyAxe etc. I could go on, there are literally hundreds of them.

At the end of the day, is it worth the risk? How much have you spent on your computer? For a fraction of the cost get a well established and reliable Spyware Blocker. One that has many good reviews and millions of people have already downloaded.

We recommend the three products on this website because most of all, you can trust them. Secondly, millions of people are already happy with them. Don’t waste your time and energy tryng to find a cheap option for what is the most important part of your computer system. You get what you pay for, so protect your computer with decent Spyware Blockers!

Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus FREE Scan

Get 10% Off Your Spyzooka or RegZooka Order. [Coupon Code: SPY10].

STOPzilla! Anti-Spyware Software

Yes, there’s a new category in the spyware stakes; it is called ‘scareware’. This is just my own term, but it describes perfectly what I have experienced lately. Scareware refers to spyware that attempts to frighten you into doing or buying something.

Let’s start at the beginning. What is Spyware? Spyware is any software that installs itself on your computer without you knowing. It’s purpose is not as distructive as that of a virus. But it causes you lots of headaches for sure. Spyware basically has two purposes. One is to record your browsing habits and keystrokes and the other is to bombard you with adverts. Normally the information obtained by the first is what is sold to advertsing companies, as leads. The adverts you get may well be relevant to your browsing habits. This is how they know; by recording your keystrokes.

Some spyware will even record your bank details and credit card information, this is particularly dangerous. However, this is not normal, most spyware are purely out to run ads or sell you something. If your computer suddenly starts to run slowly or you have adverts popping up or even if your homepage changes by itself then you most likely have spyware on your computer.

But I have seen a new category of Spyware recently, one which can be called Scareware. Scareware installs itself on your computer the same as any other spyware. But then it proceeds to try and persuade you that you have been infected by some serious virus or program. You will receive messages that look like genuine windows error messages, telling you that your computer is infected.

It will then tell you to click on the button to fix the problem. This will inevitably lead you to a page that sells you a fix in the form of another program. DO NOT click that button! Once you’ve done it, you can’t get rid of it. You have to run some top spyware blockers in order to get rid of this nasty. Once you have got rid of it you will notice that there is nothing else wrong with your computer.

The whole process can be disturbing and consume lots of time to fix. The good thing is that a decent spyware blocker will get rid of it.

On the point of Spyware Blockers; be careful when purchasing one of these. There are some ok FREE spyware blockers but most are in fact spyware themselves. Or they will attempt to get you to upgrade to a paid version anyway. They do this by showing results from scans of your computer that aren’t completely true.

If you run a reputable Spyware Blocker against one of these free ones you will find that what the free one says is on your computer is not actually true. They are also trying to frighten you into buying an upgrade. We’re tried this and found many free spyware blockers are just making up threats on your computer. It’s called false negatives.

So, the best way is to just buy a decent and reputable spyware blocker. Do some research and see what people are buying. A paid for Spyware Blocker will have good support and you know that it will update almost every day for fixes for new threats. They have the resources to do this, because millions of people pay for their product.

You get what you pay for. Some people may well disagree with me regards Spyware Blockers but is it worth the risk? Consider how much you’ve paid for your system and then the price for the best spyware blocker is really insignificant.

With the popularity of email and internet browsing on mobile phones on the rise people should be seriously thinking about protecting their phones from spyware and viruses.

Everyone focuses on their desktop computers and laptops because you spend most of your ‘internet’ life on those devices. But with more and more internet enabled phones being developed the need for protection is quite obvious and necessary. Netqin has a very good solution for this problem.

Netqin is a global company specialising in mobile security and they have developed spyware and antivirus software for your phone. It even comes with a firewall.

Currently they only do it for Nokia, which I guess is the most popular brand. Not sure what their plans are as far as other brands go.

It is easy to install, you simply pay online and then you receive a download address and an activation code. Once you have installed the software you just need to activate it using the code.

If you are using your phone a lot for browsing then it would be worth considering installing this software to protect you and your phone. Spyware is becoming a threat everywhere and you need to protect every device that connects online.

15% Off NetQin Mobile Antivirus 2 Years

Spyware will slyly lurk in your computer without you being aware of it. Though there are several spyware removers available in the market as well as online, you must know that sometimes some of the debris might be left behind. Most anti-spyware software have to be installed and run twice or thrice to completely remove spyware from the system. This happens because you will not be aware of spyware when it is installing itself in the computer. You may recognize it after a while and by then the whole system will be infested with spyware.

Spyware removal must always be written in your schedule, especially if you have all your work files only in the computer. There might be several opponents from your industry who might want to steal information by hijacking your computer. Sometimes it is difficult for the spyware removers to recognize spyware as it might act as if it belongs to the anti-spyware programs. The format of the software etc will be similar those of anti-spyware programs. This may now sound like a daunting task to you, but do cheer up.

Since spyware is known to use key loggers that track the keys you press, they could easily identify passwords for bank accounts that you may be accessing online. This information can be sold to third parties for large amounts of money. Spyware removers do make life easier to an extent but there is always the problem of spyware installing itself again in the computer. These spyware cleaners will protect your privacy as well as computing habits, and you will not have anyone prying on you anymore.

There is a lot of information on the internet as well as PC magazines that cover spyware removers and which might be the best to use. Normally most of them will all be in a similar in nature and easy to use. Millions of people have downloaded this software over the internet and have reported great results across the world. The reason these programs are very popular is that any ordinary person can do it themselves and they do not need any computer expert to help them out.

With spyware removers you need not build a huge bill for technicians and you can do it with the click of a mouse from the comfort of your home. When these programs are installed, you will not have any messages to confuse you, they will install automatically.

Spyware Removal Info is an online resource, providing in-depth information about Anti Spyware software, which is an essential tool to keep your system free of dangerous spywares, protecting your privacy and your PC. Here you will get vast technical information about spyware removers to delete spyware.

About the Author

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – How Spyware Removers Can Make Life Easier for you

1) Spyzooka won’t slow your computer. Many antivirus and antispyware programs are bloated with extra code which makes it work slowly and this in turn slows down your computer.

Spyzooka is a relatively small file. Even though it has an option to run 24/7 to guard you from infection at all times (instead of just scan once a day or once a week), its use of system resources is barely noticeable. This is especially important if you like to play games, videos, or music on your computer while connected to the internet.

2) Spyzooka won’t try and puff itself up by “detecting” tracking cookies. One trick that even the major, legitimate anti-virus and anti-spyware programs pull is to list cookies on your “potential threat” list. You are given the option of deleting these cookies or not.

These cookies are not viruses, spyware, or anything malicious! At worst, they represent a privacy threat to some privacy advocates, as they can track how many times you visit a site. But you don’t need any special software to get rid of these.

With Microsoft Explorer, simply go to the Tools drop-down menu, and select Options. Click the General tab on the dialog box. Now, hit the Delete button under Browsing History (it’s the first delete button you’ll see).

If you’re using Firefox, click on the Tools drop down menu, then click on “Clear Private Data”. In the new dialog box, make sure you check the box next to Cookies, then click the button that says “Clear Private Data Now.”

Now you know as much as most anti-spyware programs do about the dastardly “cookie threat.”

3) It’s got robots! Blue Penguin Software keeps ‘bots searching the web for viruses, Trojans, and other malicious software 24/7. Yes, they actually go looking for the stuff, to hunt it down and learn how to kill it! This means that it is able to discover and remove viruses as quickly as they are made.

4) It’s updated constantly. In fact, every time you finish a scan, it’s a great idea to send a scan report in. Spyzooka’s user interface is probably the simplest and easiest I’ve ever seen, which makes this no problem even for those of us who have no technical knowledge.

The engineers at Blue Penguin will use software to analyze the report and see if any of the new malware they’ve learned about has infected your computer since your computer was last updated.

5) Customer support. In the latter case, you will get an email telling you an update is available and you should scan again.

Or, if you’ve got some problem malware that won’t come off your computer, just upload the scan report. Within 24 hours, you’ll receive a support email telling you of your problem, along with a software update to fix that problem! That’s why they make it available 24/7.

6) 100% guaranteed to remove all malicious software within 24 hours, or your purchase is refunded. I didn’t believe this at first. Most computer techs recommend two security programs, since none of them catch everything, all the time. I decided to “call their bluff”–and was pretty pleasantly surprised.

Click here to Get 10% Off Your Spyzooka or RegZooka Order. [Coupon Code: SPY10].

About the Author
Carl runs a site devoted to helping you rid your computer from all sorts of spyware and malware at http://www.spyzooka.com/

(ArticlesBase SC #580929)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – 6 Reasons I Like Spyzooka