Adware spyware
Adware and spyware are the two categories that put fear in the eyes of a heavy computer user. These two have played havoc on the worldwide web community what viruses alone used to do earlier. Ask any seasoned computing professional of the scariest things on this planet, and the response will be prompt - virus, adware, spyware, not necessarily in that order.
Adware is a software that shows advertisements on your screen; these ads bizarrely pop up on your computer, even when you are not surfing. Adware applications also include those which are sponsored for their free use. Creation of adware was an original idea of freeware hawkers. The concept was thus - you don't pay anything for the software application, but then the developer would make money from selling 'space' for advertising. If you use 'free' hotmail or Yahoo, you will understand this in a moment. You use these services for free, but you are exposed to advertisements from time to time. Some or all money is recovered this way.
This concept of 'free' use was stretched to make it malicious. Adware now a days, act in tandem with spyware. Spywares are little applications that reside on your computer, and send important information about your surfing habits. Based on your surfing habits, the marketers sitting out there in space, would know your area of interest. So you will be exposed to ads for the products of your interest. Thus, spyware is the data collecting agency, and adware is the advertising agency. Bad part - you yourself don't know that this is happening right from your computer. Still worse is yet to come - spyware applications can also steal some critical information like your bank details, credit card numbers and other such important piece of information. No need to guess, where will it land, and how will it be used.
Should we then stop using 'free' applications? Is there no way to rid of these malicious applications? Answer is yes and no. . While there are ways and means to rid of these nasty little things, all the tools and ammunition available with you on the net may not be sufficient to fight these out. One of the safer ways is to carefully read and understand (!) the end user license while installing a 'freeware', or for that matter even a 'shareware'. If you are able to make out any sense from the mountainous EULA of the application, it will clearly specify the installation of such adware. The choice is now yours, whether to go ahead on installation or not. There are various anti spyware applications available on net (some are free), which can help you identify and remove these parasites from your system. Notable among them are Lavasoft Adaware and Spybot S & D - both are free, and known to carry excellent reputation in the industry.
For more information about spyware removal visit: Spyware removal
|
Books, articles and directories
|
