Beware of the Free Stuff

Looking a gift horse in the mouth is good advice when it comes to free programs
that you find on the Internet or receive through e-mail. Free programs
might contain viruses or be malicious programs designed to obtain information
or damage data. Even though it might be free upfront, the cost of using the program
might be high in the long run.

Virus-infected files are commonly transmitted as file attachments to e-mail
messages. Some viruses will go through an address book and send a virus-infected
message or file attachment to each person on the list. For this reason, even
though the message appears to have come from someone you know, it might
actually be a virus. As such, if you’re not expecting a file being sent to you from a
specific person, ignore the attachment and delete the message. If the message is
from a friend, family member, or colleague, then contact them to see if they sent
you a file before opening it. If they didn’t send you anything, delete the message
immediately.
Another type of free program might obtain information, damage data, or even
go so far as reformat your hard disk. Malicious programs can be written to perform
a variety of tasks. Once executed, the code can then perform various functions
that are undesirable and dangerous.
In other cases, the malicious code might be secretly included in a seemingly
legitimate program.This is common with spyware, which is software designed to
gather information about you and transmit it to a specific source.Advertisers and
other parties use spyware (which is also called adware) to determine what sites
you visit or acquire other information about you. Because you don’t know what
information is being gathered, installing this software can be dangerous.
To protect yourself from spyware, you can turn to a number of tools on the
Internet that will prevent such programs from sharing information about you and
your browsing habits. One tool is AdAware, which can be acquired from
LavaSoft’s Web site at www.lsfileserv.com.This tool acts like antivirus software
and uses updateable files containing information on known adware programs. It
will scan your system for spyware and remove any that are found. Another tool is
SpyStopper, which can be acquired from InfoWorks Technologies Web site at
www.itcompany.com.When SpyStopper is used it will block any spyware,
cookies, advertisements, and so forth, protecting your information from being
sent out over the Net. In Chapter 4, we address spyware again and discuss how it
is associated with browsers.