Privacy-Invading Software Help

[M-Jam]

Hello all... sorry it took me so long to begin posting... look for the usual whiney-ass rants to begin soon... hehe...
In the meantime, though, I did want to mention, that I've read here, that some folks were concerned about Gator (spyware), and it looks like PC users, at least, are in luck... there's a wonderful FREEWARE program called Ad-Aware available at:
http://www.lsfileserv.com/index.html
which scans your drives AND even registry, for spyware, and allows you to remove the offending stuff safely out of your system, with just a few mouse-clicks. It's not JUST for Gator... it also senses many, many other spyware programs as well, like the dreaded "Bonzi-Buddy" and LOADS of others I haven't even heard about. I highly recommend also downloading the ref-update program available there, as well... anytime you want to check for check if your program's set up to sense the most current spyware, it'll update what Ad-Aware's capable of sniffing out.
This all started becoming an obsession with me, when I begin reading that there was a lot of information being sent out by Windows Media Player, whenever folks used it. So I guess, now I need to ask, in return, for assistance in troubleshooting that one, since so many folks use WMP... and from what I hear, the most current version is the worst offender, and that's what's needed for a lot of multimedia applications... For example, did you know, if you watch a DVD with it, what you're watching gets sent to a database?
Guess I'd like to open this string, in general, for addressing issues concerning what little privacy we might still have, while online... Waldo, I KNOW you're good at this... your previous advice on Trend Micro has proven invaluable...
Just for the mentioning as well... I've found that Real Player not only sounds like crap, but has been attempting to connect to the net, every time I boot up as well... which I don't let it do. But sometimes you need to use it, y'know?
Anyhow, I KNOW the net's not private... but I don't think that means that we need to leave ourselves wide open, if it can be helped, either... Mary Beth and I have been getting 50(!!!!!!!) junk Emails a day, for months!
The floor's all yours, folks... what do YOU think?
KTF, M.

[TheRealWaldo]

Hey bud, you got yourself a software/outgoing firewall/port monitor installed?  Best way to kill that outgoing data...

[M-Jam]

Oh, but of course! That was the VERY FIRST thing! And it went a long way towards helping me figure out just how "active" some of these programs were!
M.
PS... Hope yer' cold's better...

[TheRealWaldo]

Colds doing a bit better.  Should be over it in the next day or so (I hope).

For those who don't know, www.zonelabs.com is a good place to start with a software port monitor/firewall called 'ZoneAlarm'.  It will help protect from snoopers and monitor outgoing data, allow you to block certain programs from the internet, etc.. There is a free version as well.

[M-Jam]

Yeah, I agree... the ZoneLabs stuff is good, and it's free!
Further info on the issues with Windows Media Player (as well as some fixes, and links to more info) can be found at:
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173662.html
I don't believe this makes WMP "bad" per se, but I do believe folks should do the fixes, get the patches, or at least be aware of the problems.
One good bit of news I heard about recently, though, is that "they" are thinking about getting a "kids' net" going, for children under the age of 13 or 14... That did my heart good, 'cause for awhile I was wondering if political pressure was gonna send the net spiralling downwards to the level of only allowing material that would be acceptable for children AND adults both... and that kind of would knock the wind out of any sites attempting to address the more controversial issues...
I do believe a lot of net advertisers are getting much more aggressive lately, though, and some of 'em seem to be going waaay beyond spamming (like those awful x-cam pop-under ads) to behavior that's bordering on hacking... like telemarketing, it's not exactly illegal, but it most definitely IS an invasion of privacy. For example, a couple of weeks ago, I needed some fast, decent quality mp3 encoding software... I found some real nice freeware that did an excellent job of batch conversions quickly, however I later found out that the software actually had Gator embedded in it!
Next issue: cookies...
To Be Continued, M.

[M-Jam]

Hello again. Cookie managing software... especially cookie managing FREEWARE, is sort of tough to find. Cookie Cruncher is free, but does not install properly, and may have some virus properties attached to it, 'cause some of the files in its' installation file got converted to unuseable versions when I got the download. HOWEVER... there's a wonderful set of PC utilities that are freeware, at:
http://www.karenware.com/powertools/powertools.asp
"Karen's Cookie Viewer" does a fine job of locating cookies, describing their properties, and offering lots of flexibility for deleting 'em. I also thought the "Window Watcher" program looked useful, although I don't yet understand a lot of the functions it's describing... WW basically shows you what programs are doing what, on your PC, at any given time. Some of 'em don't always let their presences be known, especially during sessions when you're connected to the net.
Like I mentioned at the beginning of this string, there's not a lot of privacy to be had on the net, to begin with... but that sure doesn't mean that I have to allow advertisers access to lists of websites I've been to, which they then use, to send us even more junk mail. AND... the junk mail has its' OWN cookies it delivers! I've enabled a feature on my browser, that allows me to be notified, before accepting cookies, and some of the mails wanted to setup 6 or more PER MAIL!
Internet Explorer has a nice feature, which allows you to block senders individually, with just a couple of mouse clicks, however I believe their cookie placing and record-keeping schemes are a lot more complex than, say... Netscape. A lot of this is waaaay too detailed to go into here, on a single post, but there's a lot that can be found out, by doing a few simple searches on the subject, with Yahoo or Google.
Eventually, I'm sure spyware will get a lot more sophisticated... some of it already has. However, there's a difference between governments using it to monitor suspected terrorists, and businesses using it to spam our mail nine ways from Sunday... I'd like to at least have a choice in WHO solicits me, and how often... wouldn't we all?
KTF, M.