Spyware has changed online behaviour, says survey

The survey also suggests that:

• 81% of internet users say they have stopped opening email attachments unless they are sure these documents are safe;
• 48% of internet users say they have stopped visiting particular web sites that they fear might deposit unwanted programs on their computers;
• 25% of internet users say they have stopped downloading music or video files from peer-to-peer networks to avoid getting unwanted software programs on their computers; and
• 18% of internet users say they have started using a different web browser to avoid software intrusions.

Pew's report claims that 68% of US internet users (about 93 million people) have had computer trouble in the past year that is consistent with problems caused spyware and viruses, though 60% of those who had problems were not sure where the problem originated.

Some 25% of internet users have seen new programs on their computers that they did not install or new icons on their desktop "that seemed to come out of nowhere." One in five internet users (18%) have had their homepage inexplicably changed.

The survey was conducted by telephone among a sample of 1,336 internet users.