SpyZapper

from my email:-

Dear member

Coming shortly, you will notice a change to the functionality of your AOL desktop every time you sign on to AOL. This is because AOL has launched SpyZapper - AOL's latest weapon against spyware, adware and other programs that monitor where you go on the Internet, often without your permission or knowledge.

If your computer is cluttered with programs like these, you are more likely to experience connection problems - including disconnects - and risks to your online security.

SpyZapper runs automatically every time you sign on to AOL (and at regular intervals while you are online), and checks your computer for a selection of programs identified by AOL as having a negative effect on your connectivity and security.

If you do not want SpyZapper to run on your computer, go to AOL Keyword: SpyZapper, choose the option 'Do not block any programs (do not check my computer)', and save these preferences. We do not recommend you do this, as SpyZapper provides important added protection for your computer.

SpyZapper will:
a.. Perform a quick automatic scan of the most vulnerable areas of your computer - for instance, memory. No information that identifies you personally is changed or recorded by AOL as part of this process.
b.. Detect the presence of a number of programs predetermined by AOL, if these programs are on your computer.
c.. Inform you of what it has found, and give you the option to disable the programs identified.
d.. Run every fifteen minutes while you are online.
Because SpyZapper is run regularly, it should help to prevent disconnects.

In addition, you should consider running AOL Spyware Protection on a weekly basis for more comprehensive protection.

For more information about SpyZapper, and spyware in general, go to AOL Keyword: Spyware.

For a safety and security jargon buster, see Geek Speak - Do You Know Your Phish From Your Diallers?


Regards
AOL Member Services
Online Security Made SimpleAOL Safety & Security Centre

see also

AOL 9.0 Security edition
McAfee VirusScan Online will come bundled with AOL 9.0 Security Edition

but checking every fifteen minutes seems a bit over the top to me

Fight Spam in Six Steps

Always Report Spam

Click the button at the bottom of your mailbox to report spam. AOL's tools get smarter the more you use them.

which is one of the reasons why I think that any extra charge for AOL as an ISP is worth every penny.

AOL's Top 10 Most Widely Sent Spam Email Subjects
Fake personal greetings, pharmaceuticals, body-enhancing hormones and finance-related offers were ranked as the most widely recognised junk email subject lines by 'spamwatchers' protecting the AOL service.

Add them to your Custom Word list to help get rid of junk email in your Mailbox.

• Viagra online (also: Xanax, Valium, Xenical, Phentermine, Soma,
• Celebrex, Valtrex, Zyban, Fioricet, Adipex, etc.)
• Online pharmacy (also: "online prescriptions"; "meds online")
  
• Get out of debt (also: "special offer")
  
• Get bigger (also: "satisfy your partner"; "improve your sex life")
  
• Online degree (also: "online diploma")
  
• Lowest mortgage rates (also: "lower your mortgage rates"; "refinance"; "refi")
  
• Lowest insurance rates (also: "lower your insurance now")
  
• Work from home (also: "be your own boss")
  
• Hot XXX action (also: "teens"; "porn")
  
• As seen on Oprah

Try variations as well, such as gaps between letters, numbers instead of letters (V1agra) and letters missing.

Check out the spam subject lines in your Spam folder for other annoying dodges and add them too.

Some of the newest ones are defeating msn hotmail and gmail spam filters for now - with subjects like Re (10) or How good is your lifestyle? by Mobile Office User get as far as the gmail spam folder or msn inbox - also basically a convincing and nicely written text message with a graphic which loads on opening

but not into my AOL mail boxes.

Safety & Security Centre

AOL offers an automatic email virus scan that provides an added level of security to your online experience at no extra cost. This automatically scans every email attachment that you send or receive for viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.

If the scan detects a virus attached to your email, a Virus Protection pop-up will tell you the outcome of the scan. If you receive a Virus Protection pop-up you do not need to contact us.

Where possible, the scanning service will remove the virus from your attachment and send the email onwards or download it virus-free.

Sometimes it will not be possible to remove the virus, in which case the scanning service will tell you that the email has not been sent.

Either way, you should take appropriate action with the document that contains the virus.
If you want more information about what to do if you have a virus, worm or Trojan horse, please go to AOL Keyword: Virus.

snipped

Who provides the virus-scanning service?
The service is powered by Network Associates' world-class McAfee anti-virus technology and research.

Search Engine Decoder | Relationship Chart

Search Engine Decoder | Relationship Chart from Website Promotion, Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization Articles

AOL Spammer convicted

AOL Spammer Gets Nine Years:

Internet Spam artist Jeremy Jaynes has been sentenced to nine years in prison by a judge in Virginia.

The ruling is the first spam-related felony prosecution in the U.S. since the anti-span law was enacted in 2003.

As such, Loundoun Country Circuit Judge Thomas D. Horne told the Washington Post that 'This is a case of first impression. . . . It is a statute that is being tried for the first time,' and that Jaynes would not begin serving his sentence immediately due to legal issues.

The 30-year-old Jaynes of Raleigh, North Carolina was found guilty in November of sending out thousands of spam email to AOL mailboxes, a violation of Virginia's anti-spam law.
The case was tried in Loundoun as many of the spam emails traveled through an AOL server located there.

The prosecution said that Jaynes and his colleagues used phony internet addresses to send more than 10,000 spam e-mails to AOL members during a three-day period in July 2003."
thanks to The Latest News Headlines - Newsbug.net

(the eight-most prolific spammer in the world, . . .

How to get access to Usenet

OpNews - How to get access to Usenet

AOl now longer offers these groups so go outside use Outlook Express for starters if you get fed up with google groups