Be wary of spyware posing as holiday screensavers
This is the season for twinkling holiday lights and Christmas trees. Neighborhoods are aglow and houses are shining. But before you fall for an Internet pitch urging you to do the same with holiday programs for your computer, you’d better think before downloading.
My NBC-TV High Tech Report this week notes that there are scores of sites urging you to decorate your desktop this holiday season with great-looking Christmas-themed screensavers and wallpaper like this very popular Night Before Christmas animated scene.
But beware! Not all of of the sites check their programs for spyware or viruses.
And also watch out for sites that install a toolbar or adware that turns your browser into a virtual advertisement.
The vast majority of these sites offering free stuff like this are there to get your e-mail address, or to subscribe you to receive advertisements or trick you into clicking on other ads.
The site I recoomend the most is Freeze. It has no spyware that I could find and offers some very cool animated screensavers, like a very popular Night Before Christmas animated scene.
My recommendation is don’t download anything unless it is guaranteed to be virus or adware safe. And just to be sure, have some strong anni junkware programs like Adaware or Spybot Search and Destroy ready to scan that software after installing it… just to be sure.
Carolin Kolaaas Says:
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