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At some point in your education, a teacher probably spoke about the legend of the Trojan horse.  The Greeks left a large wooden horse outside the gates during the siege on Troy.  It was meant to be a peace offering, but actually, once the horse was brought into the city walls, it was found to be filled with Greek soldiers who quickly took over the city.

From that legend, Trojan horse viruses got their name.   While a program or file may look innocent enough, it actually contains a virus just waiting to attack your computer.  It either destroys information or installs spyware to track your movement or personal information.

While most computer professional refer to the Trojan horse as a computer virus, it is not a virus in the true sense that it does not replicate itself.  However, it is designed to take control on your computer system, just as the Greek soldiers took control of the city.

Many Trojan horses are designed to monitor your computer usage and steal, without your knowledge, any information it can from what you do which is also known as Identity Theft.  Because of this, it is considered a form of spyware.

This can be used to deliver unwanted pop-ups to your computer, based on the web sites you visit as well as collect your personal information, such as credit card numbers and password.  It may even change your web home page to a site they want you to see.  In fact, many web site owners pay spyware creators to do that so they get traffic on their site.

Trojans are also used to install what is called a backdoor.  A backdoor gives a hacker an access point to your computer.  Once they have gained control, they can then send spam or do damage to your computer – all unbeknownst to you.

Trojan horses are hidden in programs that seem useful.  You may find a free utility that seems like something you need, download it, and then run it and it actually infects your computer.  Trojans can also be spread through email attachments.  If you receive an email attachment that contains an executable file and download it, the Trojan horse will infect your computer when you run the file.  How do you know if it is an executable file attachment?  Executable files have an extension of .exe.  Don’t mistake these for text files – they are actually programs.

Newer Trojan horses can be embedded in image files.  A good rule of thumb is to never open a file from someone you don’t know, whether it is text, an image, or an executable file.  Even if it is from someone you know, but nothing you expected to receive from them,, don’t download it.  It may be a hacker sending things from their computer or they may unknowingly be sending you an infected file.

One of the better known Trojan horses is Sub7.  It claims to be a legitimate piece of software used to remotely control your person computer, but it can also be used to steal personal information such as credit card numbers.

If your computer becomes infected with spyware, you may have more to worry about other than just the fact that it is annoying to you.  Spyware can damage your system, causing it to become unstable.  It may interfere with you using other programs.  It can even cause hackers to be able to access private information on your computer including files and places you have visited on the Internet.

You do not normally know when you get spyware.  One day your computer can be fine then when the spyware is downloaded on your computer, you begin noticing problems.  It may even be difficult to remove once you realize you have it.

How can you protect yourself from spyware?  Use caution when downloading any new programs from the Internet, especially free and shareware programs.  While some are honorable, a large amount contains spyware.  Some programs even tell you in the fine print of the user agreement that they have spyware embedded in them, so always read that closely.  Even if a program says it is spyware free, be leery.  The music download program Kazaa has been saying it is spyware free for years, yet many people have downloaded it only to become infected with spyware.

What are some of the signs that you have spyware on your system?  You may notice a large number of pop-ups on your computer whether you are browsing the Internet or not.  Your browser homepage may be hijacked – that is changed from the original homepage you set.  Even when you reset it, it will return to the hijacked page.  You may notice new toolbars on your browser window. You may notice your computer performing sluggishly or rebooting automatically. (more…)

AceSpy is flagged by many of the spyware removal programs including Spyware Doctor as a keystroke logger.  AceSpy monitors the computer by recording screenshots and maintaining log files of keystroke activity including email program, instant messaging and chatroom conversations.  This application is sold commercially as “Spy Software” for the use of monitoring another person who could be your spouse or even a child.

Legally, it is a federal and state offense to install monitoring or surveillance software on a PC that you do not own.  The reason that many spyware removal programs monitor for this program is just because it is illegal to install it in certain cases, it doesn’t mean that someone won’t do it.  Personally I am in full agreeance of doing what it takes to make sure that my children are using the internet in a safe way so in this situation I would highly recommend this type of  program.  But on the other hand, you need to be careful that you don’t have these types of applications running on your computer without your consent so I am definately a fan of monitoring for this software.  Keep in mind that most spyware protection programs give you the ability to flag a program as being safe so you would just update your spyware program for this program.which means that a person would usually purchase the program to monitor the activity of another person using a computer. 

The bottom line is AceSpy is the type of application that can be both good or bad.  You need to be aware that their are many other types of logging programs that are not sold commercially that can be installed on your computer without you evening knowing it.  If you are looking for a safe way to monitor your children, then download a free trial version of AceSpy.  Also make sure your are properly protected against having one of these programs installed on your computer without your knowledge by installing Spyware Doctor.

I came across this new adware threat today called BraveSentry Fake Alert.  My anti-spyware program Spyware Doctor from PC Tools popped up an alert today letting me know that it quarantined this program today.  I did a little research into it and found out that sites on the internet are saying that this adware threat is actually coming from a rogue anti-spyware program called BraveSentry.  It seems that the program does nothing more than try and trick you to purchase the commercial version of their program by telling you that you have spyware threats on your computer.  PC Tools classifies this as an adware program because it seems to have the ability to display advertisements on your computer such as the fake spyware alert.

We always recommend to our clients that they have a trusted anti-spyware program installed on their computer to protect against threats like the “BraveSentry Fake Alert”.  We do recommend that they use PC Tools - Spyware Doctor for their anti-spyware protection.  Click here to get a free trial scan to see what has been installed on your computer.  PC Tools does not use scare tactics to get you to use their program and they will tell you truthfully if your computer has any threats installed on it.