There are a lot of things that can affect our computers that don't really fall into any specific category. The Messenger Service in Windows has recently been used for spamming, but it is a service that has its uses. And although the major players in the Instant Messaging game (AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Microsoft Messenger) are trying to secure their IM services, the fact that they allow file sharing and attachments makes them as potentially dangerous as any other opening to our computers.

Then there are the file sharing programs. LimeWire, Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster, Imesh - there are a lot of them out there, and they all present their own security problems. File sharing programs are not necessarily bad (legal issues not withstanding) but they offer a way to allow other people access to our computers without our being able to control what they do.

Imagine hosting a House Warming Party to show off your new home. Lots of people come by and you show them the items you want them to see (the shared files that you have available for others to download from your computer). Most people will be happy to look around and take what you are offering, and offer you gifts in return (the shared files on their computers). But some people will try to wander away from the rest of the group and get into areas of your house that you do NOT want them in (hacking your system). Or they may decide that they want to plant a microphone in the house so they can listen in and get information about you (spyware).

With so many people attending your House Warming Party it is hard to see who is where, but more importantly you cannot always control when the visitors will arrive. Using a file sharing program allows visitors to have access to your computer any time you are connected to the Internet - even when you think you have turned off the program.
To make things worse, the gifts the visitors offer are wrapped up in pretty packages that hide their true contents until you open them. It is possible that the gift is not a gift at all - what appears to be the latest song from Moby Grape could actually be a trojan or spyware, and you have no way of knowing until you try to open it.

Worst of all, by using a file sharing program you have probably given the program permission to install anything it wants to, with or without your knowledge. These affiliated programs can gather information about you and your surfing habits, change your home page and search settings, alert other computers to the fact that you are online, and take over your internet connection to the point that you may not be able to get online at all!

I got many calls from people that suddenly could not get online when they had been surfing with no problem. After calling their Internet Service Provider and checking their connection settings, they are referred to the PC Tech Support for help since their ISP can find nothing wrong. The PC Tech Support people can find nothing wrong with the computer - the hardware and software checks out fine. Then the caller mentions that everything was working until they installed a file sharing program. At that point the caller is on their own, since the ISP and PC maker do not have any responsibility for fixing a problem that the caller has brought on themselves. (If your child has put a peanut butter sandwich into the VCR, it is not up to the VCR company to fix it, right? The same principle applies here.)

So be warned - even if the RIAA doesn't come after you for sharing files, there are a lot of problems with installing the programs!