A recent gripe about programs on HP computers that "phone home" prompted a wide-ranging discussion on the subject of spyware.
The spread of spyware is becoming a major headache for many IT organizations. "I am a desktop support technician that works for an organization with somewhere in the neighborhood of 1600-1800 machines," wrote one reader. "In the past year, I wouldn't hesitate in saying that upwards of 30%-40% of our calls involve ‘slow computer, no internet, constant pop-ups.’ After a session of your spyware detection program of choice, there’s usually a couple hundred pieces of spyware in the machine, and after a reboot ‘like magic’ the machine is working again. This problem has gotten so ridiculous that we're probably going to have to consider buying a paid-for version like Ad-Aware Plus or Spy Sweaper that actively monitors the system for spyware to handle this problem. Keep in mind this is just the stuff these folks get from browsing the Internet."
Many readers felt the problem is that too many companies are ready to cut deals to include spyware with their products. "Until there is a thundering rage from all computer users for these sort of background activities to stop, all parties involved -- save for the consumer -- will continue to profit from this kind of software," wrote another reader. "Each of these companies may just put ‘a little something’ on a computer to help them generate some revenue, and that may be innocuous enough in itself. But when there are hundreds of such companies with dozens of such programs each, they are completely capable of ruining the computing and online experience for their customers and even costing them substantial amounts of money to have their computers wiped of this trash and restored to usable condition. Now, we all know the amazing success rate of getting everyone riled about something that is really too esoteric for the average person to care about. So I suppose our only hope is that this whole spyware/adware industry will clog its own mechanisms with the overload that is generated, and that the something-for-nothing industry itself will implode in due time."
While some argued the finer points of what is and is not spyware, virtually all agreed that more disclosure is needed. "WildTangent and BackWeb may not technically be spyware, but the salient point is that they are installed without the owner's knowledge and consent," wrote one reader. "As an experienced VAR, I can state beyond a doubt that computers are more stable and perform better after I uninstall those ‘features’ for my customers. I hate to advocate government intrusion into anything, but in this case I think what is needed is a law that requires a plain English declaration ‘Notice: this computer comes preinstalled with programs which are designed to collect and report information about you, and which may make your computer run slower and crash more often.’ If you are considering buying an HP, also add to the cost $50 to $100 that you will soon spend on a guy like me to clean up all the stuff you don't need or want, tune the system so that it works reliably, and create or order the recovery media that you didn't get with the computer and you otherwise don't know you need until it's too late."
10:56:35 AM 
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