Alan,

Sorry about the confusion. BTW, that is a great set of questions based 
on my rather terse email! ;)

I have a Debian Linux system (testing/Sarge) with Mozilla 1.7.2 that I 
use for email and browsing. I am getting a strange redirect page when I 
surf the net with Cox. It says - "Oops. There may be an issue with the 
URL Forwarding service for this domain, in which case our technical 
staff is currently working the situation. Otherwise, this domain is 
currently under construction and will be back online soon." The rest of 
the page is a search page with different categories (travel, 
entertainment, etc.) I have a screen shot, if you are interested.

I don't get this with all pages, just some - for example google, 
fidelity, cox.net, as well as some more obscure pages. I can also get 
this from a link on a page that takes me to another page on the same 
site. It also seems, that once I get that message, I cannot get to that 
web site again unless I shut down the browser and start again. It does 
not happen all the time, but the frequency seems to have been increasing 
in the past month. Roughly, 10% at the start of the month and 30-40% 
now. Also, I have been getting slower and slower response time while 
browsing and retrieving email - including server timeouts.

I talked with the tech support folks at Cox and they think I have 
spyware on my system. Cox says they do not generate that message. The 
Cox guy assured me that the network to my modem is ok (he tested it or 
just went to get a cup of coffee???).

Unfortunately, if I tell Cox I have a Linux system or I won't get any 
support. I am also was under the impression that by running Linux I 
cannot be "infected" by spyware. But, the tech is convinced that I have 
some spyware on my machine (he assumes it is a Windows machine). From a 
quick google search all the software is for Windows, which just confirms 
my suspicion that I am chasing a wild aquatic fowl for no good reason.

So, here are my questions - hopefully in a more lucid form...

1. Can a Linux system become infected with what is commonly called 
"spyware"?

2. If yes to #1, then what is a good (free) program to remove the 
offending beasts?

3. If no to #1, then do you have some suggestions on how to better 
troubleshoot and solve my problem?

Actually, #2 was my original question...The other two came to mind after 
some further thought.

I hope this clears up the fog around my question.

Thanks, and again, my apologies for my foggy initial email!

Mark

Alan Dayley wrote:

>Mark Phillips said:
>  
>
>>What is a good (free) spyware removal program for Linux?
>>    
>>
>
>I'm confused.
>
>- You want a tool that removes spyware from Debian Linux?  Is that needed?
>OR
>- You want a tool that runs on Debian Linux but removes spyware from a
>Windows box?
>OR
>- You want a tool that runs on Debian Linux and removes spyware from email?
>OR
>- You want a tool that runs on Debian Linux and removes spyware from
>websites?
>OR
>- You have a different definition of spyware than I do and I am completely
>confused?
>
>For me, at least, I need more information about what you are trying to
>accomplish and the environment you want to work in.
>
>Alan
>
>
>
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