Spyware on Mac? And PC?

[mattthemutt]

Well I've got 2 questions here. Does a Mac get spyware as easily as a PC? And for any few PC users out there, I've got some sort of spyware on my PC that underlines things, makes lots of pop-ups and it changes the banner ads, which I'm pretty sure wouldn't be legal considering that Macrumors gets payed by people to have those ads up, so changing them would mean I can't see it. It also hijacks the homepage to some stupid 'search engine'. How can I get rid of it?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Well I've got 2 questions here. Does a Mac get spyware as easily as a PC? And for any few PC users out there, I've got some sort of spyware on my PC that underlines things, makes lots of pop-ups and it changes the banner ads, which I'm pretty sure wouldn't be legal considering that Macrumors gets payed by people to have those ads up, so changing them would mean I can't see it. It also hijacks the homepage to some stupid 'search engine'. How can I get rid of it?

You're in luck as far as Mac spyware goes - there isn't any. I'd use Ad-aware for detecting and removing Windows spyware.

 

[Gohan]

Sypybot search & distroy is another good one. I tend to use this along with Ad-aware as I find between the two of them they tend to kill off everything

 

[Timelessblur]

Also another trick on the PCs is not to use IE. Use Firefox and it greatless reduces the amount of spyware programs.

From what I can figure out on about the macs the only spyware they get are the tracking cookies and only those that can effect netscape based browers (which going to firefox would do)

 

[svenr]

Also another trick on the PCs is not to use IE. Use Firefox and it greatless reduces the amount of spyware programs.

I second that. Internet Exploder is where most of your problems start. Even the US government suggests using other browsers:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3840101.stm

From what I can figure out on about the macs the only spyware they get are the tracking cookies and only those that can effect netscape based browers

Well, cookies are not usually considered "spyware", although they can be used to track someone through the net. For many sites, like this MacRumors forum, they are necessary or you couldn't log in. Also, while you can use cookies to "remember" which browser the user has, the cookies themselves are not browser specific. IE uses cookies just like any other browser.

 

[JzzTrump22]

IE is very unsafe when it comes to spyware and adware. I try to use netscape on my pc (if i ever actually use that pos). Anything other than IE is a safer bet. Also use the links above to get rid of ads and crap on your pc. They work well.

 

[SeanMcg]

Speaking of Adware

Anybody notice that MacRumors is now prompting to install adware? If you are on a PC and in IE, you are promtped to install something from GAIN Publishing. Ain't gonna happen.

While I prefer Macs, I still have to make my living by supporting PCs, and that is what I have here at work. I would hope that even though we as Mac users can be thankful that we don't have this problem on our favorite platform, we could refrain from inflicting this pain on others.

 

[Powerbook G5]

My roommate seems to speak religiously of Spybot Search and Destroy, but I've noticed that it often wants to delete core windows files thinking that they are spyware files instead.

 

[TreeHugger]

IE is very unsafe when it comes to spyware and adware. I try to use netscape on my pc (if i ever actually use that pos). Anything other than IE is a safer bet. Also use the links above to get rid of ads and crap on your pc. They work well.

On my PC (hardly ever use it anymore since I got my PB) I use mozilla's Firebird and Thunderbird for browsing and mail. For PC they are the best.