Can ISPs use keyloggers to get passwords, etc?

[cauzomb]

Thanx for the response, jholland . . .

I have not been on this forum that much, but I can tell from the dialog that I have read that many confuser (er...computer) users have really NO CLUE about the dangers of surfing the web, Instant Messaging, sharing files P2P (Peer to Peer), etc.

Luckily, I have no real interest in swapping music with others, or Instant Messaging, etc. So my security requirements are pretty basic:

That is:
Keep Microsoft Updates current. Do not use Outlook Express or Internet Explorer -- I use Firefox and Thunderbird (but there are other good choices I understand). Disable the Widows Services that you don't need (but which can allow vulnerabilities into your system). Use a good firewall. Employ a battery of good anti-spyware software. . . . And keep all of the above updated every week or so.

By "good battery of anti-spyware software" I mean, for example:

Spybot Search & Destroy
Lavasoft's Ad Aware
SpywareGuard
SpywareBlaster
AVG Anti-Spyware (from Grisoft)
AVG Anti-Rootkit Free (from Grisoft)
Microsoft Windows Defender

All of the above are FREE.

And, while I use the $70 Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite, there is the very good Zone Alarm FREE firewall, which is better than the Windows firewall that is part of Windows XP.

I have other software running that I have paid for in addition to the above. However, other good FREEware is CCleaner, CleanUp!, MRU Blaster, which I use also.

Hope this is helpful to anyone needing such information. Thx, again, jholland, for your responses. IANAG is a great forum. and it delivers a lot of great information.

Wanna B Ageek

I agree with the good measures or compilation of products, but many of them have been absorbed by the conglomerate industry leader and have been "re-written" to exclude certain aspects of protections, which means; They are not protective enough, or have been programmed specifically to exclude the conglomerates own versions of spyware/malware,, many of the new free applications are reprogrammed to gather information about what you do on your computer and report it out to a usage computer in efforts to create a "profile" of your activity, behavioral profiling based on stollen private information........ spybot 1.3 and teatimer actually work, but since MS's programmers learned that it actually worked, they "may or maynot have" re-programmed aspects of their opperating system to be incompatible with the applications, so that you no longer have the privacy protections that used to be available... Same with the anti-virus programs that stopped finding "programed not to search for" Certain file's and/or malware/spyware components of applications that are included with all the new stuff that they want you to have in order to re-inforce their profiling and data mining agenda.

[Wanna B Ageek]

The odds are you'll get hit by a bus then struck by two bolts of lightning 2 minutes later well before some malicious person is hired and can actually capture your password(s).

LOL. That is good.

Also, I didn't know I would have to have a keylogger on my machine. That is reasssuring, 'cuz I'm confident I don't have one. Thanks for your reply.

Wanna B Ageek

[Wanna B Ageek]

I sort of liken it to eating a cheeseburger that has been mailed to your house, in plain brown paper, without a return address and not knowing who sent it to you but eating it anyway because it "looks like" a Big Mac and it is free...

LOL Good analogy. You are right.

Thx for the advice re: too many anti-spyware programs running. I did not know that. Some of what I mentioned in my post I think are just scanners. That is , I don't think they actually run in the background. I know Teatimer does, and Pest Patrol does, and probably Windows defender. But I think the AVG stuff is passive.

Also, good point about the ISP wanting to protect their good reputation.

Thx agiaan.

Wanna B Ageek

[Wanna B Ageek]

Thanks for your comments and insights. I have often wondered about that myself. I am a suspiscious persion by nature I think.

I noticed in my Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite (ZAISS) that, by default, traffic to and from Ebay is allowed, because Ebay is apparently some sort of "partner" with ZA. Therefore ZAISS offers Ebay privileges by default. At least I can override those privileges though..

Wanna B Ageek