I have win xp pro. My son bought a dell inspiron 1150 laptop (wireless). We hooked up the router to my desktop and cable modem. My question is, if my son gets spyware/adware on his computer, will that spyware/adware go on my desktop since we are hooked up to my cable modem? This might sound like a stupid question but my kid knew I downloaded service pack 2 on my desktop and it also got installed on his laptop?

I have win xp pro. My son bought a dell inspiron 1150 laptop (wireless). We hooked up the router to my desktop and cable modem. My question is, if my son gets spyware/adware on his computer, will that spyware/adware go on my desktop since we are hooked up to my cable modem? .

As I understand the definition of spyware, the answer to this question would be "no." Programs that spread in this fashion would be considered to exhibit "virus-like" activities, and would therefore be classified under "viruses" or "worms," but not spyware.

Spyware does not spread in this fashion, but viruses do.


This might sound like a stupid question but my kid knew I downloaded service pack 2 on my desktop and it also got installed on his laptop?

Um... that can't happen. It must have been installed on both.


By the way, please do not cross-post. :)
~psi42

Yes it did happen. I downloaded SP2 and he also got it on his laptop. Don't ask me how because I have no idea!!

What do you mean?

What do you mean?

You posted the same question multiple times on this site, in different forum sections. This causes problems because:
1) It clutters the "recent posts" list
2) It makes communication difficult because there will be different things happening in each duplicate thread. Thus you will have to answer the same questions twice, and your posts might get ignored all together.
3) People with the same problem might only see one of your threads, and not get their answer, while their answer is sitting in the duplicate thread you posted.

So... there's cross-posting in a nutshell. :)
Please, please, please don't cross-post.

~psi42