In computer news this week, 03/27/2002

Bad things that can happen to your computer on the internet, and what you can do about them........

Last week's show on spyware generated a lot of listener emails and phone calls by people surprised to learn that while they are on the internet bad things can happen to their computer. Here's some:

Spyware - or programs that install themselves on your computer and track your surfing habits and sell that information to advertisers- is just one of the bad things. If you read the transcript from last weeks' show online, you can download a program to detect and remove these spyware programs.

Many other bad things can happen to you, of varying degrees.

Starting with the lesser of the bad things, some web pages will try to change your home page in your browser - the place you always enter the internet at - to their site. The reason they do this is that they can then count you among all the other people that come to their web page daily, and they can bombard you with their online ads. Then potentially they can make money off other sites that you go to from their site, as referrals. If a web page changes your home page to theirs, you can easily change it back to whatever you want it to be by clicking on Tools - Internet options - in whatever browser you use. Then don't go back to that site again.

It's possible to configure most browsers for different levels of security to prevent bad things happening to you, but it's also possible to configure yourself off the internet. In the advanced security options, you can do such things as refuse to accept cookies, which most sites put on your computer, but in many cases if you do this, the sites will then deny you access. Usually if you have your browser level set a medium that will suffice for most situations.

If you wonder if you have cookies on your computer, click on the my computer icon on your desktop, then click on your hard disk, then click on the windows folder, and then click on the cookies folder in there and look at all the cookies on your computer. You may have hundreds or even thousands of them. They may be in other places on your computer too.

Cookies are an internet fact of life you almost can't avoid. The websites say they are for your benefit, so that when you revisit their site they will find a previous cookie they stored on your computer and you won't have to start from scratch again. But internet security advocates say that cookies enable sites to track your buying and surfing habits.

Probably the most annoying thing on the internet today are all these popup ads - you go to a website and suddenly all these ads start popping up - close one and another pops up. There are some advanced settings in your browser you can change to prevent this, and there are some anti-popup programs you can download, but perhaps the simplest solution is not to go to sites that use them. Or if you do, email the site and tell them you resent their popup ads.

On the list of really dangerous things that can happen to your computer on the internet, there are many and they can be catastrophic. It's possible for hackers to take control of your computer while you're on the internet, read or destroy files on your computer, or even download their own programs onto your computer, while you're totally unaware of what's going on.

The code red virus is an example of this - this virus can be put on your computer anonymously, and then your computer can be directed to attack a certain website whenever you're online.

There are security programs that allow you to surf the internet anonymously. There are also firewall programs that protect your computers from hackers getting into your computer while you're online.

If you have concerns about your own internet security, - and you should -

you should look into all these options.

For Raw Bytes, This is Frank Delaney

POB 222 Spangle, Wa 99031 (509)245-3736 624-7230