stbenge wrote:

> 
> My question is how does does this happen? And why does it happen to some 
> people more than others? How can a person be downloading and installing 
> software without even knowing it? All I can guess is that it must be 
> like what I experienced a few weeks back, when I accidentally clicked 
> "yes" to a pop-up dialog. (my one and only incident in over ten years of 
> computing [yes, I'm proud])
> 

This happened to me once. I downloaded an application that allowed my 
Razor phone to connect to the computer and manage files on the phone 
(seeing as I couldn't get pictures without paying for a special service) 
It was a bit fidgety, so I clicked the link in the program to check for 
updates. It was hardcoded to I.E., and the download site it was pointing 
to was hosting malicious "ad banners" Suddenly an installer popped up 
for an imitation anti-spyware program (Windows anti-spyware, it was 
similarly named to what Windows Defender used to be). I clicked cancel, 
and it proceeded to install itself, even though I clicked cancel.

The rest, as they say, was history. I managed to carefully pick apart 
the dozens of adware, spyware, junkware, and shovelware that installer 
forced onto my system and delete and/or uninstall it. Windows defender 
helped some. I thought I had cleaned it all up, but there were still 
remnants in my registry and filesystem, which were discovered by 
Defender when it got the latest updates. Norton Antivirus sat happily 
aside and watched the whole thing without uttering even a peep.

-- 
~Mike

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