CNET: EarthLink finds spyware running amok

Earthlink updated last spring's somewhat misleading survey of spyware installations, announcing that a scan of three million computers resulted in finding 83 million instances of spyware. MarketingVOX pointed out in April that the study takes a pretty liberal view as to just what "spyware" is, with the vast majority being merely cookies, which are most often used as harmless identification tags. Interestingly, in all categories, the third quarter should fewer instances than the second quarter, perhaps indicating that users are getting savvier about preventing and undoing surreptitious software installations. If the study counted only trojans and system monitors - the dangerous stuff - the 83 million figure would be reduced to a still large one million. That comprises an average of one instance for every three computers.