What is
spyware?
Spyware is the term given to applications or software that “spies” or sends information back to the owner of the spyware about your surfing habits, usually for marketing purposes. The spyware is transported through another program. For instance, the freeware program Kazaa, which allows you to share all types of files between different people, has spyware built into it to track your surfing habits. What is the justification for spyware by their purveyors? Well, many publishers feel that since they are giving away the software, they deserve to make money off of you by violating your privacy and tracking your surfing habits to sell to marketing companies. Their reasoning is valid in that they should be compensated in some way for providing a great piece of software for free, but the problem is that they don’t tell the user (you) up front about the spyware. They usually hide it in the privacy policy or user agreement, which the majority of surfers don’t read, and to make matters worse, further obscure it by writing it in legalese.
Spyware has taken a more despicable turn by being installed without the user receiving any free software. What am I talking about? Spyware such as Comet Cursor, lop, and others are installed automatically via popup windows or by just going to a site.
NOTE:
For those of you who use Kazaa, please download Kazaa
Lite 2.00 it will eliminate the spyware
and the barrage of ads.
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How does anti-spyware software work?
Anti-spyware software works by identifying the spyware based on previous installations. Remember spyware is installed like any other application and so has a “signature”. A signature is comprised of the entries in the Windows Registry that are changed and the files that are created on your hard drive. Anti-spyware software will look for evidence of these files and if it finds any, removes them, thus removing the spyware. The most challenging area of removing spyware is the number of variants. Similar to real-world viruses, spyware can have “strains” or variants of the same “parent” spyware, which can make it difficult to remove.
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Why do I need anti-spyware software?
Spyware:
- will cause your computer to run slower;
- can alter your browser settings by changing your home and search pages or even automatically adding entries to your favorites folder;
- is a violation of privacy, unless you have agreed to it.
Spyware is walking a thin line of being classified as a Trojan horse or back-door (link) and currently, the only defense against it is anti-spyware software.
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What should I do now?
There are two major players in the anti-software arena:
Both of these programs can be downloaded for free from our
spyware protection page. I personally use both of these applications, but prefer Spybot. I have the paid version of Ad-aware, which automatically scans for spyware in real-time via their add-on package Ad-watch. Whatever you decide, please ensure the following after installation:
10. Check for latest updates immediately;
11. Set options for highest level of scanning;
12. Set option to run at startup;
13. Set option to fix spyware automatically;
14. Shutdown all programs and run a scan immediately
You can check for spyware automatically from our free
spyware scan page but it will not remove the spyware for you automatically it will only you instructions on how to remove it. I use it to do a quick check while I’m surfing to make sure I’m “clean” and if spyware is found I use Spybot to remove it.
Add the following lines
to your hosts file to stop the Ad servers in their tracks.
Your hosts file should be located at:
- Win 9x: c:\windows\
- Win NT/2000/XP: c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\
c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\
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Anti-spyware
Software Recommendations:
Spybot
Spybot is definitely the new king in
spyware and adware removal. I have tried it for a
while now and it is more comprehensive, thorough, and
faster than ad-aware. Ad-aware still has a great
following and great guys working to make it number one,
but in my opinion Spybot currently holds that honor.
The latest version of Spybot also come s with a secure
deletion tool called secure shredder. You can use this
to permanently delete files on your computer. Best of all, it's free!
Kazaa
Lite 2.0.2
The best P2P download network around!
- No Adware
- No Spyware
- No banners
- No bitrate limit for mp3 files
- No irritating websites loaded into KaZaA
- No crappy BDE Viewer
- No Bonzi Buddy
- Set up multiple users with the included
- PseudoTrack tool
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