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Spyware problems? Prevention is better!
Spyware is computer software that collects personal information about
users without their informed consent- definition as per wikipedia.
Spywares may record your personal information secretly using a variety
of techniques, including logging your keystrokes, scanning the history
of your browser or in rare cases documents on disk drive.
The main purpose of spyware is to track websites visited by you and send
them to advertising agencies to do targeted advertising or study
Internet users behaviour. Some malicious type of software can be used
to steal user ids, passwords or credit card numbers for fraudulent
uses.
Spyware are like uninvited guests, who refuse to leave. In addition,
these guests spy and report your activities and also try to sell you things!!
Is your machine infected by spyware? Here are some telltale signs.
You are frequently notice unwanted behavior and degradation of system
performance as a spyware infestation can create significant unwanted
CPU activity, disk usage, and network traffic.
System crashes or hangs, requiring a reboot
Your Internet connection has slowed down to a crawl or you are observing Internet
activity even without your doing anything.
You are seeing displaying pop-up ads on a regular interval or when you
open a new browser window.
How can you get infected with spyware? Don't do any of this or you will get infected!
Spyware does not directly spread in the same way as a computer virus.
Instead, spyware gets on a system by decepting the user or through
known security flaws in software.
Spyware is installed mostly, without your being aware. e.g when you are
installing a piece of desirable software say a P2P file sharing one.
Developers of spyware usually present the program as a useful utility
— for instance as a "Memory booster" or other such helpful
software. You download and install the software without immediately
suspecting that it could cause harm and the spyware gets installed.
Spyware may come bundled with shareware or other downloadable software
or music CDs. You download the program and installs it, and the
installer additionally installs the spyware. Spyware authors sometimes
pay shareware or freeware authors to bundle spyware with their software.
Another way of distributing spyware involves tricking you while
browsing the Internet. Websites which distribute spyware may sometimes
shows a standard looking Windows dialog box. The box may contain a
message such as "Would you like to speed up your Internet access?" and
with links which look like buttons reading Yes and No. No matter which
"button" you presses, a download starts, placing the spyware on your
system.
Some spyware infect systems through known security holes in the Web
browser. When you reach to a website controlled by the spyware
developer, the website may contain code which attacks the browser and
forces the download and installation of spyware leaving you as a
hapless bystander.
How to get rid of spyware?
Well friend, you will have to use a spyware removal software to get rid
of installed spyware software! In extreme cases, the only answer is to
take backups of all your data, reformat your hard disk, reload the
operating system and restore your data.
Moral of the story: Prevention is better (and in most cases CHEAPER)
than cure! or Look BEFORE you leap. What's your choice?
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