I wish I could help out on the spyware thing, but I haven't a clue how to access the system registry on a Mac. If he had a PC, no prob -- I spent 6 hours removing spyware from my Mom's computer on Christmas Eve, so it's all fresh in the memory. I don't even think Ad-Aware makes a Mac version. But I'm sure someone knows...
Here at the Public Library, our Free Internet Computers (the sociological equivalent of a compost heap,
trust me on this) end up absolutely
choked with spyware, and of course no one does a
goddamned thing about it until Jane Q. Soccermom fires up IE and is greeted by a throng of nimble and vigorous lesbians. Then it's all HOW DO WE FIX THIS SAINT ZARTAN and I'm all SURE I DON'T MIND BEING PAID STARS AND GARTERS LESS THAN TECH SUPPORT FOR
THIS VERY REASONThe best way to avoid spyware is to
stop clicking yes on every fuck*ng dialog box that opens up.
"Would you like to make MonkeySpank search your homepage?" UH DUH SURE GET OUT OF MY WAY QUESTION BOX YOU'RE BLOCKING THE TITTY
"Your computer is broadcasting an IP address! Click here to fix this!" OH SHIT WHAT IF THE WIFE FINDS OUT I LIKE SAILOR MOON PORN
"Would you like to have the weather
for your area displayed on your desktop?" GEE I GUESS SEEING AS THAT HUGE BANK OF WINDOWS IS LIKE NINE FEET AWAY
Also, if you
must visit a shady website (ahem FREE XXX PASSES), do it with a decent browser that blocks pop-ups and actually lets you see
where the links you're clicking actually go.
Prevention, people.