My boss has been having alot of problems with his computer and viruses.
This week his sys.reg went missing and his computer now only operates in safe mode.
The technician who came into fix it had a long talk to my boss about what he downloads and how to stop viruses.
My boss has decided to purchase a brand new computer for himself as he has so many viruses hidden throughout his hard drive that it was impossible to clean it up properly.
Until we get the new computer he has been running his old one in safe mode - so we can get copies of important files etc. But he can not download emails so I am getting his emails on my computer and printing them off for him.
Which brings me to my point. Today I got an email saying his Sysytem Soap software needs to be updated. What is System Soap? Is it yet another virus or is it something he needs on his system.
It’s all right there on the website. It’s basically a sort of all-in-one spyware detection & removal/internet history cleaning/general purpose security package. I’ve never used it myself, but it looks like a decent thing to have. More important, though, is to have a good firewall and follow some simple rules about downloading and running programs, attachments and the like (basically: don’t. Unless you absolutely know and trust the source. And even then scan it with your AV software first).
System Soap actually puts its own spyware on your computer, not reccomended. If your boss is buying a computer just to have a clean hard drive, he’s wasting his money.
Basically we had a choice between formatting his harddrive to remove everything on it, or getting a whole new system. As the computers were last upgrade in 2000 we were getting to the point of needing to upgrade anyway. Apparently his registry is shot to pieces, he gets hit by viruses at least once a month.
I don’t understand why he has such problems with viruses because none of the other computers on the network are effected by them. I reguarly update and scan all the hard drives and his is the only one every to get hit with anything.
The last couple of invoices from our tech guy mentioned trojan viruses in porn downloads, which probably explains everything. Still I would think that whatever protects the other computers in the system would protect his.
Oh well not my problem. I just have to work out if I need to update this system soap thing.
No amount of protection is going to be effective if the user sees a message like “The program you are attempting to run may contain a virus. Run anyway?”, and he clicks “Yes”.
Can you arrange for the IT guy to work on recovering the boss’ files and after he’s done. casually ask the boss “What should I do with this folder full of pictures? Want me to put 'em on a CD so you can take them home?”
I think you are nitpicking a bit too much ** Q.E.D **, System Soap does install annoying ad-ware, and is a pain to remove. Still, if it doesn’t send info back home, then you are right in saying it isn’t spyware.
The terms “adware” and “spyware” are used interchangeably. Most adware spies on the user, anyway – it send information on your browsing to the adware server.
When I have to tie up three hours of my day to re-image and re-configure a user’s PC because they’ve been on the wrong side of the Web, I’ll call it anything I like. Adware, spyware, malware, whatever. Would you prefer I called it Henry? Actually, I probably should call it job security
Whatever you call it, System Soap is not something I would allow within 50 feet of one of my computers. Use a real product like Adaware or Spybot (or both!).
Getting a new computer in this situation is a complete waste of time and money.
