Basic Spyware Tips
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Steve Cowan August 14, 2006
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Steve Cowan |
Steve Cowan is an enterpeneur,businessman & writer. Steve is also an
international racing driver & full time father.Find more,visit his
site at http://webbizz99.com/spyware & adware |
Steve Cowan
has written 1 articles for WebKnowHow. |
View all articles by Steve Cowan... |
Nowadays, it's a sad but true fact that spyware and adware programs
are a far greater threat to your internet security than the dreaded
computer viruses. Indeed, spyware, adware and other so-called malware
(such as key loggers and trojan horses) actually constitute the biggest
single online threat to your privacy and the security of your data.
It's also a major reason for system slowdowns on computers, as these
types of programs generally use up precious system resources including
RAM (memory) and hard drive space.
So, let’s look at some basic facts about spyware and adware, where
these programs come from, what they are, and what you can do about
protecting yourself.
Spyware comes in various guises and forms, but basically, it is a
program or piece of information that is secretly placed on your
computer, that sends data about you or your computer habits to someone
else on the Internet, without your knowledge. This can be a company
that is collecting data, or a thief seeking to steal access to your
computer or the information held in your database (passwords, credit
card details and so on).
Spyware can also be a program that places unwanted ads on your
computer, often in the form of a malicious cookie. A cookie is a little
piece of information placed in your web browser to track your web
habits, which, in its more generally benign form, is useful as, for
example, a web site can see you have visited it before and let you on
without a registration process. Again, in its more benign guise, a
cookie can help you by keeping track of your progress through a web
store. They are also used to customize website ads to your likes and
dislikes.
But, obviously, when they are used for spyware or adware purposes, a cookie is not a welcome guest on your PC!
Spyware programs can get into your computer in several different
ways. Sometimes they arrive as an automatic download from a website you
are surfing. Porn and online gambling sites are notorious for this, for
example.
Sometimes, if you download a free or illegal piece of software, they
are embedded in the installation process, or spyware can get on your
computer via an email attachment that you shouldn't have opened. (Tip
here - if an e-mail comes from an unrecognized source with an
attachment, DO NOT open it - it's almost guaranteed to be some sort of
program that you definitely don't want!)
Spyware and adware are bad news for several reasons:
They hog precious system resources like memory and hard disk space.
If you computer runs much slower than it did previously, then it
probably is infected with spyware. If you have never done a spyware
scan, then it’s almost guaranteed that there is spyware on your system
slowing things down.
They can seriously compromise your privacy and security, providing
outsiders with information about your computer habits. For example, by
installing a keylogger, spyware can capture your keystrokes and send it
to a third party. This can potentially expose your user IDs and
passwords to thieves.
Other program such as trojans which allows someone to log into your
computer remotely and use it for their own purposes like sending spam
or launching malicious attacks on other computers on the Internet,
making it look like you are at fault.
So, it’s bad! Let’s look at how to get rd of it.
There are lots of both paid and free anti-spyware programs out
there, and, like all things in life, some are better than others. The
question often asked is, which is better, a free program or a paid one.
The simple answer is that the best approach is a combination of the
two, and, unlike anti-virus programs, you can run more than one
anti-spyware program on your system without any problems.
First thing to do is to install the totally free Spybot Search and
Destroy program, which will eliminate 70-85 per cent of all known
spyware.
The, invest a little money in a good paid program like Spyware
Doctor, NoAdware or Spyware Nuker to complete the job for you. Yes, I
know that it means spending some money, but if it can prevent someone
stealing your credit card details, for example, then it's a sure fire
thing that its going to be money well spent.
Another advantage of the paid programs is that they generally have a
more effective "pro-active" nature to them than the free programs do.
In other words, they are usually far better at stopping spyware and
adware actually getting into your PC in the first place, and, clearly,
preventing the problem is far easier and less time consuming than
having to deal with it once your PC becomes infected. |