Uninvited guest

Got your own spyware horror story?

I found the coolest screensaver one day while exploring the wonders of the Internet as a newbie surfer. It had a waterfall with birds and jungle sounds, and was completely 3D and free! I just had to have it. After it was installed, however, the program added a toolbar and some other icons I didn't immediately notice. Within a minute or so, the beautiful, animated scenery was partially blocked by big, bold text that advertised how to get the full version of the screensaver without the annoying nag screen.

Well, I decided to rid myself of the nuisance only to find it wasn't that simple. Even after uninstalling the screensaver and restarting my computer, the offending text was still popping up in my face. I used Spybot - Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware, but I couldn't clean it all.

A friend helped me isolate and remove all the separate program elements one by one, but I still received a Windows error message during reboot telling me it was attempting to load a program that wasn't there. The program it was trying to launch on start-up was the screensaver program, of course. Worst of all, there wasn't even a real filename for it--let's just say there was a bunch of scrawl marks and tiny squares where the filename should be. We finally fixed the automatic start-up problem using Msconfig and removed the same start-up entry. All in all, it took the better part of the day to regain control of my machine. After all of the hassle, I decided to purchase a reputable screensaver, which is likely what I should have done in the first place.

-Douglas
Irving, TX, U.S.A.

Reply from the Download.com editors:

As you discovered, Douglas, "freeware" with sinister motives can certainly be a nuisance. If you didn't download the software from Download.com, which scans and evaluates every piece of software submitted to our site, there's a possibility that software that's supposedly free will pepper you with excessive nag screens for the full version or come bundled with far more treacherous malware, such as Trojan horses or keyloggers. Interestingly, free screensavers recently earned the honor of the single riskiest search term (at 64 percent) in a May 2006 study by McAfee SiteAdvisor.

As in most cases, preparation is the best medicine. You can train yourself to recognize many , but keep in mind the most dangerous sites are those that appear legit. Your best bet is to only download free screensavers from trusted sites like Download.com, or to use a program that lets you create your own screensavers, such as Webshots Desktop or Screensaver Factory Pro.

For nagging programs that are extremely difficult to uninstall, try using the high-powered system scanner HijackThis. Though its results aren't always easy to decipher, it scans the problem areas of your computer for possible threats and finds many sneaky threats other scanners often miss or misinterpret.