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What is spyware? – Spyware is a somewhat generic term for software that installs itself on your computer with little or no knowledge to the user with the purpose of collecting marketing data. There are several types of spyware. Some are more annoying than harmful. It can be anything from a banner ad to software that takes control of your computer, and compromises your information. Here are the basic types of spyware: Adware – Installs software on your computer with the purpose of generating pop-up and banner ads. May track your usage and tailor the ads based on your web browsing habits. Very common. Very annoying, but probably the least harmful form of spyware. Trojan Horses – These are files that appear to be something they are not. They use names of familiar applications in an effort to get you to run them and then they install themselves on your computer. Some Trojan horses have malicious intentions and therefore are considered viruses. Browser Hijackers – Redirect your home page to a page on their server. They may also act as a proxy server so that when you browse the Internet, you are going through their server and therefore they can track you. Browser hijackers usually use adware as well and may also act as data miners. A side affect of browser hijackers can be broken Internet access. Data Miners – Programs that go through your email program and sometimes other programs on your computer with the purpose of finding personal data that can be sold or used for advertising purposes. It may harvest email addresses or other information. This is the most dangerous form of spyware and often times the most transparent. You may not realize you are infected. Deceptive Tools – This is a more recent type of spyware. These are tools that claim to be anti-spyware applications but are not. They may come to you in the form of a banner ad that says your computer has spyware. You then are redirected to a site where you can buy a program to get rid of it. The program may actually remove some spyware, but most act as spyware and track your usage. Is spyware a virus? – By definition no. A virus is intended to harm a computer or network. Spyware is intended to track for advertising purposes. Though the side affect of spyware can be computer problems, that is not its intent. How do I know if I am infected? – Several studies show that between 80-90% of computers on the Internet are infected with some form of spyware. The only way to know for sure is to run a scan with a tool such as Spybot Search and Destroy or Lavasoft’s Adaware. Some signs you may be infected are: Your computer runs slower than normal. You get an increase in pop up ads. Your browser now goes to a different web site than your normal home page. You suddenly cannot access any web sites. You get a sudden increase in spam email, or your system just starts acting “weird”. How did I get infected and how do I avoid reinfection? – There may be no way to know for sure what happened in each case, but there are some common ways people get spyware and some suggestions: Drive by downloads – This is when you visit a web site and it installs a bunch of spyware on your system. Oftentimes this approach takes advantage of security holes or exploit Active X. Keeping Windows up to date will greatly reduce this risk. In addition, cautious web browsing is the best advice. There are certain types of web sites that tend to have spyware on them. These include adult web sites, some online game sites, and sites with questionable content. Browse with caution. Spybot Search and Destroy has an immunize feature that will help some. You can also install JavaCool’s Spyware Blaster which is specifically designed to protect against Active X exploitation. You can get this at http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html Software installed spyware – This type appears when you install a program that is funded by spyware. Usually these are free utilities downloaded from the Internet. Beware of file sharing programs (usually used for downloading music), Internet accelerators, cute add ons, toolbars, tools to remember passwords or other free items to enhance your browsing experience. Not much is really free. How do I get rid of it? – There are tools available for this purpose. Two free ones that seem to work well are Spybot Search and Destroy and Lavasoft’s Adaware. Be very careful as there are numerous tools with similar names that are not free and may actually contain spyware (see deceptive tools above). It is also very important that you update these tools before running them. These tools can get rid of the common well known spyware applications. However, that is only about 75% of what is out there. The main reason for this is that new spyware applications come out every day. In addition, some spyware embeds itself deeply into the registry (the core of Windows) or other system files making it hard to get rid of. Other spyware is specifically designed to resist anti-spyware software. In these cases, it is almost always necessary to have the computer professionally disinfected. Action Networks offers this service. Typically it is about an hour and half labor. May be more for severe infections. Spybot Search and Destroy can be downloaded from:
Lavasoft’s Adaware can be downloaded from: http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/ Both of the above links will provide links to several sources of the software. By using this path, you run the least risk of getting a deceptive product. Action Networks provides information on spyware removal tools as a courtesy only. We cannot guarantee the functionality of or provide support on the software.
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