Spyware
What is Spyware?
Web sites that offer free music, weather reports, screen
savers, icons and the like are usually fronts for spyware
programs from Internet marketing people. When they install the
bait software (music, etc.) they also install software of their
own on your pc. The benign ones just record the web sites you
visit and report back to the marketing people. Others force feed
advertisements to you in the form of pop-ups, and some do even
worse things. Computers can be rendered useless by an
accumulation of spyware. For your home pc's, you get more and
worse spyware/malware the further into quasi-legal sites you go.
File sharing sites (Kazaa, etc.), gaming sites. IRC chat sites
tend to display pop-up's with neat offers that just install
malware.
Symptoms
If your home computer is running slow and has an increased
number of pop-up ads, your system may be infected with spyware.
What to Do About It
To help prevent infections, always read any popup message
carefully before clicking yes or no to close the window as they
are often worded deceptively.
There are several free programs available that will find and
remove spyware on your system. Some of the more popular
ones include:
You should read the instructions of any spyware software
carefully before using. (The above links are provided for
information purposes and do not constitute an endorsement from
BRCC.) |
