Why an Adware and Spyware Remover is Critical To Protect Your Privacy

If you want to defeat spyware, then you first need to know 
what spyware is. There is an ongoing controversy to define 
spyware but in technical terms it is a malicious program 
which takes control of your computer and web browser 
without your informed consent with a view to benefit 
a third party; compromising your security. The third party 
being the programmer of the spyware or an advertising company. 
An adware and spyware remover is the best way to protect yourself
from these types of attack.

How do you determine whether your computer has been infected 
by spyware? It’s rather simple. The first sign is you 
start getting numerous ads on your computer without 
requesting them. These are called adware. They keep popping up 
whenever your surf the net. They usually get activated by a
keyword. Say you are searching about coffee on Google. 
You will get a popup window about a coffee product. 
Another sign is your computer homepage keeps on changing 
automatically without your knowledge. If this is happening, 
your computer is again infected by adware. 

One more sign is you get strange icons on your taskbar, 
the purpose of which is not apparent. One of the most 
common is an annoying thing called weatherbug which claims 
it is not spyware but is nonetheless annoying and probably 
harmful too. You get these icons suddenly without your 
knowledge and are extremely difficult to get rid of. If 
this is happening  it also means that your computer is 
infected with spyware. One more sign is you cannot
access MS DOS prompt or windows registry. If you do not know
what MS DOS prompt or windows registry is, then I suggest you
leave them alone. As any tampering of windows registry may
crash your system. 

One of the most dangerous signs that your computer is infected
with spyware is that it becomes considerably slower
when surfing the net. This is an indication that there
may be a key logging type of spyware on your computer. 

The purpose of a virus or a worm is to annoy you or damage 
your computer and your data or both. However the purpose 
of a spyware is to gain commercial advantage like popping 
up ads or stealing your financial information such as bank 
account numbers, passwords, credit card numbers etc  for 
commercial gain to a third party. Spyware generally does 
not harm your computer but may create a backdoor which 
may weaken the defenses of your computer for further 
attack by virus, worm or any other malware. 

How does a spyware spread? The way a spyware spreads is 
also different from a virus or a worm. Virus or worm 
usually spread through memory devices like floppies, 
CDs, DVDs etc. Some spread through the internet also.  
Whereas spyware almost always spreads from the internet.  
The usual modus operandi used by spyware is to hide itself 
in a freeware or shareware program. When you download the 
freeware or shareware, the the spyware gets installed 
automatically. 

According to Dmitri Timoshenko “Generally such programs 
are integrated into popular free software which are downloaded 
from the Internet or distributed on CDs attached to magazines”.
If you visit some sites for instance few pornographic sites
you may get spyware. There are many social networking sites
where spyware is found in abundance.  “According to a study
from ScanSafe, one out of 600 profile pages on social 
networking sites hosts some kind of malware”.1

What is the solution? Solution is simple, get a competent adware
and spyware remover, then clean your computer.
The detailed instructions on how to do that is given in 
other articles. 


References:
1.Rachel Rosemarin “Thanks for the Ad, And the Spyware” 
04 Oct 06 Forbes.com