Unwanted search engines, incessant pop-up ads, websites that hijack the browser and programs that promise salvation but bring their own parasites instead - it seems the sneaky are getting sneakier.

Whether you prefer to call them adware, spyware or malware, the programs that lurk are getting harder to remove from our systems, Perth-based help guru Sandi Hardmeier says. As a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, she runs a popular support site that helps internet users with, among other things, getting rid of the nasties.

Hardmeier says that over the years she has received a steady stream of requests for help with malware: "I haven't kept precise figures, but it would certainly be in the thousands," she says.

By Nicole Manktelow at The Age.

[ Read more ]