Spyware is software with malicious intent - by design; it does something bad to your computer. Usually, it gets installed without your knowledge. It sometimes takes advantage of the fact that most people click "I Agree" to software licenses without reading them.

Adware is a variety that spies on you with the specific intent of making ads appear on your screen (those darned pop-ups!), or driving you to advertiser web sites. There are other names for it - malware, junkware, etc. It is all Malicious!

Spyware infects millions of computers with the purpose of stealing your personal information, enabling identity theft, hijacking your computer, tracking your online activity, and selling information about you to anyone willing to pay for it.

Spyware does all sorts of things, ranging from being merely annoying to being criminal and malicious. It may do any and all of the following:

• Use up your computer's system resources, memory, & Internet bandwidth, making your computer and/or Internet connection slow
• Delete, modify, or disable files, folders, programs, and essential Windows components and services.
• Use worms, trojans, and "back doors" to open your computer to further invasions and these programs may also install software to enable your PC to be a "Host" or commonly known now as a "bot". Bots are everyday normal PC's that send, collect and analyze information all over the world.
• Use your computer to send spam - yes, really! It's estimated that 80% of the world's spam is sent by "zombie" home computers infected with "spam trojans" which were installed by spyware or worms.
• Conflict with other programs, causing your computer to crash or freeze up
• Hide the presence of other parasites, and protect them when you try to remove them
• Install "keyloggers" which record your keystrokes, that is, they record everything you type
• Steal your passwords, credit card information, & other personal data to be used for identity theft
• Monitor your web surfing habits and record the web pages you visit
• Relay any of this collected data back to its makers & sell it to other companies or bad guys
• Collect your e-mail address & make you the target of spam (junk e-mail)
• Pester you with pop-up ads, even if you have pop-ups disabled in your web browser
• Hijack your web browser and change your home page, add favorites/bookmarks, or redirect you to other sites without your permission (more on browser hijacking later)

Spyware's ability to do all of these things is a real security threat to your PC's at home and your PCs at work. It can lead to data loss, damage to legitimate software, slow network performance, reduced productivity and worst of all, identity theft.

• It may hide inside of another program's installer: Many free programs, especially file/music sharing programs like Kazaa, but also screensavers, games, etc. install some form of spyware. They may or may not tell you that they're doing this; if they do tell you, they will do so in the license agreement. They of course count on the fact that no one actually reads those license agreements! You should read to the end of all EULAs (End User Licensing Agreements).
• It may be installed by a "drive-by download": installed behind your back when you visit a web site or click a link, especially advertising links or those that say you won something. In these cases, you don't even have to do anything other than visit a web site or click a link!
• An e-mail or web site may make you think that you need to download something: For example, an e-mail may say that someone sent you an electronic greeting card but that you need to download a special viewer to see it, or a web site may say that you need to download a special "media player" to view their site.
• It may pretend to be something essential, helpful, or desirable: Spyware may masquerade as some type of security warning, a "free virus scan," or even a spyware removal program to get you to click on it.
• A web site may keep pestering you to download something until you say yes: Normally, your web browser should ask you for permission if a web site you visit tries to install anything. Unfortunately, when you say No, your "No" is only good until you go to the next web page, where you'll be asked again. After being asked several times, some people will just give in and say yes. (Don't!)

• Don't download free programs, games, screen savers, etc., especially file/music sharing software. If you have kids, don't let them install anything on your computer without your knowledge (& be sure that what you do let them install is safe).
• Don't click on ads, offers, security warnings (more on fake security warnings below), or "you won!" alerts on web pages, especially those that appear in pop-up windows.
• At home you can use a more secure web browser like Firefox. Although please note that some Internet Software and games will not work on Firefox.
• Before installing any software (other than big name-brand stuff like Microsoft Office, Quicken, or WordPerfect), search online to see if it is considered spyware. Several trustworthy anti-spyware web sites will be listed in the final lesson.
• Use spyware removal programs. There are some intelligent and very generous people out there who create programs & tools for fighting spyware, and give them away for free! (More about these below.)
• Beware - of closing a pop-up window by clicking the Right hand corner Red X. Some programs this is part of the image and if you click on it, you are enabling the Spyware to start downloading. How do you tell - You can try hovering your mouse over the red X and see if the Red X lightens or darkens or the mouse changes, if so it is usually safe to Click on the Red X.
• What to do if you cant safely close out the window. There are two things to try: 1. Go down to your Task bar and right click on the advertisement if you can tell which one it is and hit "Close". 2. Hit Control-Alt-Delete Keys at the same time. This will bring up a box, Click on Task Manager, Go to the Applications Tab on the top, See if you can locate the spelling of the Web page that is being displayed, highlight it and then Click End Task. Now close your Task manager window by clicking the Red X .

Here's one of the most devious scams of all: There are companies that produce spyware removal programs and contain spyware themselves. Many of these have very valid-sounding anti-spyware names like Spy Deleter, SpyKiller, SpyHunter, and Spy Wiper, and many come from companies that look legitimate. They try to confuse people by using names that are very similar to legitimate spyware removal products; for example, SpywareBlaster is a legitimate spyware product, while SpyBlast is a fake.!

To Check out if it's legitimate Spyware visit the following Links:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

http://pcpitstop.ibforums.com/axslinger/helpfiles/bogus.htm

Sometimes spyware infections can be so bad that Ad-Aware, Spybot - Search & Destroy and Spysweeper can't completely clean them & fix your computer. If you use both of these programs and still experience symptoms of a spyware infection, you may need to take more extensive measures. Most of the time if these programs do not fix the problem; your PC will need a complete reload of the operating system

Has this ever happened to you or someone you know? One day, Internet Explorer suddenly has a new start page, or when you click on "Search," it takes you to some page you've never seen before. Mysterious Internet shortcuts, Favorites, or toolbar buttons may appear. Even worse, when you go into your Internet Options to try to change it back to the way it was, it won't let you, or if you *can* change it, the next time you restart your computer it's all messed up again. If any of this sounds familiar, then you've been the victim of "browser hijacking." Browser hijacking is when a malicious spyware program or web site changes your browser settings without your permission, and often makes it so that you can't change it back.

Why would anyone want to hijack your browser? To force you to visit their web sites so that they can earn higher advertising revenues (on the web, advertisers pay based on how many people visit a site or click an ad).

Browser hijacking is usually a symptom of a spyware infection, and means that you need to install, update, & run Ad-Aware and Spybot to clean your computer.