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A computer parasite is a program that infects certain programs like netscape and internet explorer. These parasites allow a 3rd party to infiltrate your life, by sending you pop-ups.. gathering information from cookies on what sites you've visited and even as far as peeking into your wallet or recording what your doing on secure websites. Remember just because the website your ordering from is secure doesn't mean that your computer is secure... A nasty parasite can cause havoc on people with dial up access.. especially if you leave your computer unattended... it will execute code that will dial a pay for use telephone # and after 5 minutes it will hang up... and this can go unnoticed because the program can shut off your modem speaker and hide the modem icon. another thing about parasites is that they can hide and enter a entry into your system registry so when you do delete it and reboot the registry will point to the archive of the parasite and reinstall it in your system again... Parasites can be found in jpg's, gif's, mpg's, mp3's, avi's, bmp's,...
99% of all spyware/parasites are embeded in so called 'freeware'.
nothing is really ever free especially when a large company offers it and has a pay version aswell.
Volume 3 #4 of PC MAGAZINE March 2, 2004 has a special report on spyware and identity theft.. they also include a guide t protecting you and your privacy.
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