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| ISP's providing spyware protection? I know that most BBR regulars would shudder at the thought of an ISP providing spyware protection for their customers, echoing fears of Big Brother.
However, as a service technician for an ISP, I can tell you that the vast majority of internet users know absolutely nothing about their computers or the potential pitfalls of the internet, save for a couple of buzzwords they picked up from the news.
Spyware developers are well aware of this ignorance and use it to their full advantage. Their products will "Enhance your browsing experience!" and "Optimize your internet connection!" by inundating the consumer with "Free offers from select business partners!" And of course, since it's obviously Better Than Sex! and it's FREE!, the customer clicks on the OK button. Then, a month later, they can't figure out why their computer is so slow and every click is accompanied by a half dozen pop-up ads.
Many of these customers blame the problems on the ISP..."It used to be so fast, but now it's sooooo sloooooow." So the ISP has to pay a technician to go out and verify that it's not an ISP-related problem, which increases their operating expenses. And obviously, an increase in expenses becomes an increase in price, which tends to piss off the customers.
So I don't really blame ISP's when they talk about offering spyware solutions; sure, customer education would be a better long-term solution, but the fact is, most people aren't interested in learning anything about their computer...they just want to press a button and have it work, no questions asked. So what you end up with is a bunch of people who more or less WANT the ISP to assume the role of Big Brother, because education is just so damned inconvenient. | |
 MaggsPremium
join:2002-11-29
Woodside, NY
 ·RCN CABLE
| You are very right. I had to deal with a customer who I was repairing 2 PCs for. He had AOL installed and NO IE browser visiable. I had to download a printer driver on dialup and it took 1 hr and 45 mins. He had an office computer with a corrupted sector first 100k which is mostly the boot sector, so the drive was shot. I gave him a number to have them recover the data for $40 and he never called it. They would have picked up the PC and did everything and dropped it back at his place when they were finished.
I am thinking of builing my own PC soon. I just don't have the time to get around to it now. 
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What's black & white and cool all over? Optimized  | |
 RactMicrosoft Certified Systems CrasherPremium
join:2004-01-07
Philippines | reply to cablejoe
For my personal computer security practice, i have Spyware Blaster, Ad-Aware, Spybot Search & Destroy And Norton Internet Security 2004 Pro installed on my system.
The Spyware Blaster is my first line of defense against spywares and ad-wares preventing them from being downloaded into my computer.
But if those freaking ad-awares/spywares get past the first line of defense, then here comes Ad-Aware,Spybot Search & Destroy and NIS to kick all those unwanted spies out of my system.
I also recommend this set up to those who wants a 99.9% clean and safe PC. | |
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