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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
What Is Spyware And AdWare
Spyware/adware, herein
referred to as spyware, is software that
covertly gathers user information through
the user's Internet connection. This occurs
with or without his or her knowledge,
usually for advertising purposes. Spyware
applications are typically bundled as a
hidden component of freeware or shareware
programs that can be downloaded from the
Internet; however, it should be noted that
the majority of shareware and freeware
applications do not come with spyware.
Unlike viruses and worms,
spyware does not usually self-replicate.
Like many recent viruses, however, spyware
exploits infected computers for commercial
gain. Typical tactics furthering this goal
include delivery of unsolicited pop-up
advertisements; theft of personal
information, including financial information
such as credit card numbers; monitoring of
Web-browsing activity for marketing
purposes; or routing of HTTP requests to
advertising sites.
Spyware does not directly
spread in the manner of a computer virus or
worm. Generally, an infected system does not
attempt to transmit the infection to other
computers. Instead, spyware gets on a system
through deception of the user or through
exploitation of software vulnerabilities.
Most spyware is installed
without users being aware. Since they tend
not to install software if they know that it
will disrupt their working environment and
compromise their privacy, spyware deceives
users, either by piggybacking on a piece of
desirable software such as a free screen
saver, or tricking them into installing it.
Some "rogue" spyware programs even
masquerade as anti-spyware software, and
actually install the spyware they detect and
offer to remove, for a price.
The distributor of spyware
usually presents the program as a useful
utility, e.g.: as a "Web accelerator" or as
a helpful software agent. Users download and
install the software without immediately
suspecting that it could cause harm. For
example, Bonzi Buddy, a spyware program
targeted at children, claims that:
He will explore the Internet
with you as your very own friend and
sidekick! He can talk, walk, joke, browse,
search, e-mail, and download like no other
friend you've ever had! He even has the
ability to compare prices on the products
you love and help you save money! Best of
all, he's FREE!
Once
installed, spyware can monitor user activity
on the Internet and transmits that
information in the background to someone
else. Spyware can also gather information
about e-mail addresses and even passwords
and credit card numbers.
Spyware is similar to a
Trojan horse in that users unwittingly
install the product when they install
something else. A common way to become a
victim of spyware is to download certain
peer-to-peer file swapping products that are
available today. Spyware can infest the
computer turning it into a “zombie” that
will spoof email usernames and send spam to
other computers without the user’s
knowledge.
This will usually only occur
on a computer with an “Always On” broadband
connection since the dialup process can be
easily detected by the user. If using a
dialup connection, an indication that the
computer has active spyware running is its
constant attempts to dialup the internet
connection. Another good indicator of a
computer being infected with spyware is an
extended boot up time. Since spyware is
designed to do many of its dirty deeds
undetected, there will be no reference to it
in the system taskbar, or in the Add or
Remove Programs dialog.
Aside from the questions of
ethics, privacy and it being illegal,
spyware steals from the user by using the
computer's memory resources and also by
eating bandwidth as it sends information
back to the spyware’s home base via the
user's Internet connection. Because spyware
is using memory and system resources because
it runs in the background undetected, and
can lead to system crashes or general system
instability. Spyware can get so resource
consuming that it becomes impossible to use
the computer.
Spyware exists as independent
executable programs, and therefore has the
ability to monitor keystrokes, scan files on
the hard drive, snoop other applications
such as chat programs or word processors,
install other spyware programs, read
cookies, change the default home page on the
Web browser, and consistently relay this
information back to the spyware author who
will either use it for advertising or
marketing purposes or sell the information
to another party.
Licensing agreements that
accompany software downloads sometimes warn
the user that a spyware program will be
installed along with the requested software,
but the licensing agreements may not always
be read completely because the notice of a
spyware installation is often couched in
obtuse, hard-to-read legal disclaimers.
Some likely sites that may
try to push this spyware to you include free
greeting cards, free games, free game cheat
codes, free screen savers, free anything,
etc. If the site is offering something for
free, check it closely, very closely and be
absolutely certain of the sites
trustworthiness.
Even if all they ask for is
your email address, it is entirely possible
that they will be selling your address to
spammers. This is one place where this old
adage really applies, “If it sounds too good
to be true, it probably is”.
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