Q: Whenever I turn on my home computer and sign in, my entire screen turns blue and has the message "setup of RealPlayer." How can I get rid of this unwanted message?
A: Sadly, RealPlayer is a known spyware program.
Spyware is any software that covertly gathers information about a person or organization, often disseminating that information via a user's Internet connection without their knowledge or explicit permission. Symptoms of infection include:
· sluggish PC performance
· increased pop-up ads
· unexplained homepage change
· mysterious search results.
When dealing with spyware at home, I suggest installing a couple of anti-spyware programs, Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/) and Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/). By using both cleaning programs, spyware that one will miss the other will usually find and remove.
NOTE: If you suspect spyware on your computer at work, please submit a work order (http://support.cuesta.edu/).
For more information on spyware, visit the following web site: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/spywarewhat.mspx