It's hard to tell where to start, but I guess the best place is some good news: Sanford Wallace, the guy who is to spam what Bill Gates is to operating systems, has agreed to stop sending spyware to computers. According to the Federal Trade Commission, he would then try to sell software which was supposed to remove the spyware but didn't.

But there's a lot of bad news, too. One of Wallace's cyber-progeny, Atriks, sued a student who turned it in as a spam company. Atriks says it's innocent, but the company is on SpamHaus' list of known spammers. And as if we didn't know, Reuters sent out a report that says that phishing tactics are getting more sophisticated.

I've seen a ton of stories over the last month about viruses -- so much for the holiday spirit -- and can't list them all here, but two you should be aware of are the VBSun-A worm, which masks itself as a plea for help for tsunami victims, and the W32/Baba-C worm, which tells users that adult content has been found on their computers. And then there's the Crowt.A virus that disguises itself as a headline from CNN.

One last thing: I got an email from some outfit called Trek Blue, offering "a new update scan that [Trek Blue recommends] you download in order to protect your PC from file errors located in your windows registry." I didn't click on it, but a little investigation takes you to seeq.com, which opens three popups and tries to change your homepage. Remember, the Delete key can sometimes be your best friend.