Having coming recently from the peecee world, I am aware that many websites put spyware and mini programs onto your computer while searching on the net.
AFAIK, websites that deposit "malware" on your machine, from the mere act of visiting the site, are still pretty uncommon. But, yes, this could be a problem for PC users, because an app can be installed on their machine without their knowledge or permission. OS X does not allow this.
Spyware and adware usually arrive on your computer as more-or-less concealed parts of apps that you download and install. Also a big problem for PCers, since virtually all of those apps are for Windows.
In the old world, I had a program from LavaSoft called Ad-Aware that erased all this spyware. It was a freeware program.
Yep, heard of it. Considered pretty essential for PC users.
Is there any such shareware or freeware program for the Mac (OS X Panther) that will delete these pieces of junk?
Not really, and that should tell you something. The unscrupulous circulation of spyware and adware written for Macs is almost unheard of. It's just not a problem, yet. Sure, there are keystroke loggers, screen capture apps etc, but the only way to get them on your machine is to install them yourself.
Yes, Aladdin is offering a (pay-for) app, Internet Cleanup, that purports to remove spyware, among other functions. But I think that they are selling a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. (Check the reviews at VersionTracker.)
I could be wrong about this, but I think you would have to search far and wide to find any credible report of a Mac user who found spyware or adware on their machine that was not installed by a user of the machine.
Mary
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