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Please solve this mystery......

by Jacqueline Smith
9 replies
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I'm hoping those that are more experienced in technology will be able to solve this mystery for me.....

EVERY time I google something I then end up with several spam emails related to that topic. It drives me nuts! Not to mention I find it very creepy that someone, somewhere knows everything that I'm doing on my computer!

Please tell my why this happens and what I can do to stop it!

Thanks!
  • Profile picture of the author garyv
    It sounds like you may have some adware on your computer. This is the program I like to use to remedy that...

    Ad-Aware Free Internet Security - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    And of course one of the best Malwarebytes Anti-malware
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  • Profile picture of the author FortressDataProtection
    I concur (and I'm an IT security specialist). All 3 of those programs are good, and you can even run them simultaneously (though it can slow down performance of other programs). Another thing to look for, as a quick check, is Start -> Run -> msconfig
    Look at the Startup tab, as this shows some (not all) the processes that are set to run whenever your computer starts up. Sometimes you can see some "fishy" process in there, with a weird name including random letters and numbers. That's a red flag. You can search on the process names, to identify which are valid system processes or user programs. Hope that helps, and best wishes with sorting out your troubles.
    Dr. David
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  • Profile picture of the author Jacqueline Smith
    Thanks KimW....I'll look at it tonight.

    Thanks Fortress.....I'll do what you suggest and see what happens.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Actually you need to get something that clears LSO's -- "super-cookies".
    There's a firefox plugin that will let you do that - called Better Privacy. Super-cookies are installed by some major programs like FaceBook, Yahoo, Google, etc - and they don't delete when you delete the rest of the cache or use a crap cleaner. These cookies track you all over the freaking place and it seems that it would be illegal to dump them in someone's computer but they do and apparently it's not illegal = either that or not enough people realize what's going on with them yet.

    Read the directions for using the cleaner first because if you dump those cookies too fast you can get blocked from some sites that use them. You have to wait over a half hour or more after visiting the site that installs them to safely dump them.

    Anyhow - google "Better Privacy - firefox plugins" and that should get you to it.
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    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Funny -- after posting this yesterday I found a news article today that says that there are several companies coming under a class action lawsuit for their LSO cookies (often called Zombie cookies).

    These cookies re-create browser cookies that the user has deleted in order to follow their activities. The company called them "unintentional" yet many companies are using them and are implicated in the suit:

    Privacy Lawsuit Targets Net Giants Over ‘Zombie’ Cookies | Threat Level | Wired.com
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    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
    Beyond the Path

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