All these definitions for what is loosely being called “spyware” are a problem. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission decided that a working definition was good enough, without a formal definition based on new legislation. They can deal with the problem based on existing regulations. Various industry groups have attempted definitions. Some of these [...]
Just finished building a new box for a client. Took the opportunity to grab the task list. The list below is what Windows Task Manager reported as running processes immediately after installation, after hardware detection, but before any drivers were installed. No patches, no antivirus, no software installs of any kind, no exposure to the [...]
I’ve been looking, as always in recent months, at a lot of computers that don’t run right. Most have massive infections that include from a few dozen to several thousand spyware and adware bits and chunks, including files, autorun shortcuts, folders, processes, and registry entries. Two computers were a little different last week. The first [...]
The results of the Federal Trade Commission’s spyware conference have been released. The workshop took place in Washington DC on April 19, 2004, and I wrote two position papers that were submitted as public comments 68 and 352. There is a press release on the report: www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/03/spywarerpt.htm The report itself is here: (68 page PDF): [...]
