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What are Spyware and Adware?
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Spyware is a broad term given to software which is designed to information about a computer user without their knowledge or consent. This information is then relayed to the spyware authors and used by or sold to advertisers. Adware can also contain code to gather information on a computer user but comes bundled with code designed to display targeted advertising to the user of the infected computer.
Both Spyware and Adware often infect computers in what is called a drive-by download in which the software is literally installed onto your computer through security flaws and holes as you surf around webpages.
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What are the Origins of Spyware and Adware?
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It was the dot-com crashes of the late 90's which brought about a change in advertising which has now led to what could best be described as a plague of spyware and adware. The pay per click banner advertising which fuelled the dot-com peak rapidly brought the new industry of internet advertising to its knees as users grew ever more sick and impervious to the animated gif's used in pay per click advertising.
Advertisers soon realized that to continue making money through online advertising, they would have to re-think their tactics, many moving to affiliate programs in which payment was made only for generated sales, not simply clicks on an advertising banner. Some however devised new means to advertise products without the need for a website, or servers to serve advertising, and it is from this that spyware emerged.
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How can I tell if my Computer has Spyware?
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Diagnosing spyware infections is not always easy but some easy to see indicators include the following.
- Your computer has slowed to a crawl.
- Porn sites appear in your browser window as you surf the net.
- Your computer uses your modem to dial up phone numbers in the middle of the night.
- Using your search bar results in a different site to normal handling the search.
- New sites are added to your favourites/bookmarks without your having added them.
- Your homepage has changed and keeps changing back if you try to change it.
- You receive pop-up advertisements which address you by name.
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How do I Protect Myself from Spyware and Adware?
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Choosing effective spyware scanning software is essential. With the ease of picking up spyware with drive-by downloads and dishonest pop ups encouraging you to click them, real time scanning is critical to your system integrity, and regular daily scans of your file system are highly recommended and in addition, regular weekly scans with a secondary spyware scanner is also highly recommended.
Additional to software defences, a proactive approach should be considered to avoid common website types that are often used to compromise a system.
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Jason’s PC Services offers Spyware Advice and Removal
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The choice of spyware scanning software is critical to your security and privacy online, researching your choice is highly advisable. Cleaning an infected system can be difficult but is often possible; identifying the exact variant of a malware infection is essential to properly remove the infection. But the effort involved far outweighs the alternatives of exposing data such as banking details, web surfing habits, and system and network slow downs.
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