Having completed my first round of attempting to get spyware, I am not entirely certain that I going about this correctly. Maybe I should remove my “Computer Tech” hat and become more of an “Average Joe”.
I have been using Internet Explorer 7 and Spybot with TeaTimer installed as my real time spyware blocker and even after going to known malware sites, I came up with very little spyware. I received many notices from Internet Explorer that software was attempting to install itself but I declined it every time. I didn’t get a single warning from Spybot’s TeaTimer. This leads me to think that people either aren’t using IE7 or FireFox as their browsers. Or possibly they are completely ignoring the warnings that they are getting.
Warnings from web browsers are NOT to be ignored. They are what protect you from keyloggers, adware, spyware and other sorts of malware. Even spyware blockers won’t help if you bypass their warnings and choose to install the software anyway.
Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Hi,
Thank you for this extended test of IE7, I still prefer Firefox although I know that Firefox can be vulnarable for spyware.
Have a great evening!
This Makes My Day’s last blog post..Insight: from grey to colour … by Salvador Simo
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I agree completely. I use Firefox 99.9% of the time but I wanted to use IE because that is still what most people (not all) use. The only time I use IE s when performing tests on a web design or going to Microsoft Partner websites. They often require IE.
The funny thing is that I wasn’t testing IE7. I was testing Spybot Search and Destroy with TeaTimer. The plain fact is that it was never needed because IE7 was sufficient. In the right hands, IE7 is quite capable at avoiding spyware.
I’m really bummed about how the test went and now I have to rethink my testing methods.
Stay tuned.