Steve Bass's Home Office: Beware: Sleazy Web Sites, Spyware

I don't know what's up, but I've been bumping into lots of irritating Internet marketing scams and downright sleazy Web sites in the last few weeks. (I plan to talk with my phrenologist next time I see him, but that's another story altogether. And don't worry--my editor had to look up the word, too.) This week I have examples, and I'll provide some resources and stories that'll help you protect yourself.

But before that, did you get a glimpse of my royal screw-up two weeks ago? Talk about a dumb-ass. I wanted to show you what an MBNA single-use credit card looked like so I generated one and did a screen capture. Then I dutifully obliterated the credit card number with Ulead's Photo Impact, entirely missing the smaller-and valid--duplicate number on the card. (Nope, it's too late now, folks, the image's been replaced with one having a $1 limit that's long expired.) Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled newsletter.

Web Annoyances

Here's why I'm so steamed: A recent crop of unscrupulous Web sites has hit a new low. A few sites attempted to mess with my browser by changing my default home page and modifying a few Registry settings to make it difficult to counter. One miscreant attempted to load Comet Cursor--a program that, among other things, modifies computers without the users' permission. (More on Comet Cursor in a sec.) The most infuriating episode came by way of a PCWorld.com reader. He mistyped www.pcworld.com and was redirected to a sleazy--and particularly nasty--kiddie porn site that not only popped up lots of Windows but also secretly stashed a few viruses on his PC. The FBI heard about that one in a shade less than a nanosecond.

I first got wind of the porn site when Lincoln Spector (yes, it's really his name and he's not amused if you think otherwise) received an e-mail from a reader, Ron Zorko. A handful of bright and witty people from PC World--Lincoln, me, and Scott "Internet Tips" Spanbauer--along with my technical wizard and troubleshooting guru, Rod Ream, tried to figure out what was happening. We concluded you'd need a chainsaw to recover from the damage. Lincoln's story, "Invasion of the Browser Snatchers," explains exactly what happened and provides tools for preventing it from happening to you.

Dig this: Want to see an hour go down the drain? No, I mean really whiz by? Check out the Pixel Lab, which has 27 really cool little, well, things you can play with on screen. Click any of the little numbers and letters that run along the top of the screen. My favorites? "j2," "j3," and "j4." (Don't forget to click and move the mouse around lots.)

[Bass, do you spend your nights hunting these things down? --Editor] Quick aside: Yes, these really are my editor's comments. Because of how little I'm paid, he's relegated to providing lots of atta-boys.

Fight Back

An article written by Liane Gouthro provides fine points about Guard-IE, a tool that blocks pop-ups as well as prevents scripts from resetting your home page. Read through "Browser Tool Protects and Educates Web Surfers" for all the details.

The first two pages of "Internet Tips: Get That #@&* Spyware Off My Computer!," Scott Spanbauer's March Internet Tips column, are critical reading. The article hones in on spyware, those inconspicuous applets embedded in shareware that send your personal information to grubby marketers. He also provides specifics on Spycheck, Spy Chaser, and Ad Aware, plus links for each product.

Some day you may encounter a site that tries to install Comet Cursor, a program that changes your cursor into a comet, a cat, or another animal. That's cute--but according to Richard Smith of the Privacy Foundation the thing is also surreptitiously watching your Web activity. For all the lovely dirt, check out the Privacy Power page.

To stop Comet Cursor from coming back, follow the guidelines deeply hidden at--you guessed it--the Comet Cursor site.

Dig this: You are going to love this test, even though it's a little long. But I promise, it's way funny at the end. BTW, I don't want to know what you ended up being (and I won't tell you that I'm heading out to buy some dresses). (With thanks to Bob.)

Next week? More rules on protecting yourself from nasty sites.

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