Excuse my ignorance - what is scumware? How would I check for that?
<<::snip::>>
"Scumware" is a generic catchall term, like malware, to refer to any of the various kinds of software used in invading and infecting your machine for nefarious (to you) purposes. It covers hijackers (that switch your home page), spyware (which watches your actions and "phones home" to report them, sometimes capturing user names and passwords in the process), adware (which feeds targeted ads to you, often based upon information from a spyware component), backdoors (a kind of trojan which is used to "zombify" your machine so that it can later be controlled, for example for use in a DDoS [Distributed Denial of Service] attack), and BHOs (Browser Helper Objects--some search toolbars, autofillers, etc. which monitor your Web activity and report it back--not all are bad, the Google toolbar being an example if you configure it properly), and so forth.
Basically, if it's something you didn't install, didn't ask to install, and don't want installed, it's probably scumware. The etymology is fairly clear: "scum" + "ware". I presume that the word "scum" carries the same connotation in your area that it does in most parts of America, and it is quite appropriate, IMHO, given that the people who create and propagate this crap are the scum of the earth.
Cheers,
Scott
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