Scoble talks about spyware
Look, I’m not the only one, Scoble gets the same questions:
“By the way, I got called just last night by a family member asking me to help him clean off his system. It’s also the number one thing that I get asked in airplanes (how do you clean up a system that’s getting pop ups, or worse). The problem is really bad out there.”
It’s almost like all those old jokes about people finding out you’re a doctor and wanting free medical advice. People find out I work with computers and they want tech advice. It used to be about what brand of PC to buy for their kids, whether to give their kid a laptop or a desktop for college, etc. I still get those questions occasionally, but they’re nothing compared to the questions about pop-ups, browser hijackings, etc. I even know some people who simply stopped using their home PC’s because they were so bogged down with junk and porn pop-ups, and they had no idea how to make them stop. On top of that, the amount of time I spend trying to stay on top of spyware/malware threats to our work machines continues to grow, and grow. Because everytime I patch, update or close down one hole, somebody manages to open up another one.
Then again, you want to talk about job security? Our organization’s entire defense against all of this stuff comes down to me. I’m the only one who understands it, knows how to look for it, and knows how to clean it up. And I could probably make a pretty tidy sum doing side work cleaning up home PC’s, although I haven’t tried charging anyone, yet. 🙂
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