What is Spyware? -

In the next couple of articles we will be covering Spyware. What Spyware is, What Spyware does, and how to stop Spyware infesting your computer.

You might be reading this because you are already infected with spyware and wish to remove it. If so please be patient (or skip to the next article) we will get to removing spyware very soon.
  

Spyware - The Basic Facts

Spyware is spreading. It is infecting lots more computers every day. So what is it? Spyware programs come in many different shapes and sizes. But all have a couple of things in common.

1) Spyware infects your computer without you knowing about it.

2) Spyware can send personal information from your computer to others without your consent.

3) Spyware can be very hard to find / uninstall / disable.

How Spyware Infects your Computer

Spyware can infect your computer via several methods.

Email- Disguised as an innocent file or attachment. Once run it goes to work infecting your computer.
 
Website- Passed via your browser by nasty website's. Again disguised as an innocent download. Once it has been run you are infected. Some websites also use 'cookies' to track your movement around the World Wide Web. There is no need to become totally paranoid and block all cookies. Some websites do use cookies for legitimate reasons.
 
Bundled with other programs- Spyware can be bundled with other programs without your knowledge (there are details in the programs agreement - sometimes)

Symptoms of Spyware

Your Home Page - Changing your browsers default home page is one of the oldest tricks used by allot of Spyware programs. If your home page changes to something different automatically then you might be infected with Spyware.

New Favorites - Have strange new website's popped up in your favorites? This is a common trick used by some Spyware programs. Adding website's that often come back when your PC restarts even if deleted can be annoying. Sounds like Spyware.

Computer Going Sloooow - Has your computer suddenly taken a slow pill? Allot of Spyware programs are so badly written that they use a lot of your computers memory to run. If you notice a go slow on your computer you could be infected with Spyware.

Lots of pop up adverts - If you are suddenly receiving more popup add then normal you might have a problem. Spyware programs can be used to serve popup ads to you. These can be disguised to look as though they have come from an innocent website you are viewing. However allot of Spyware programs launch 'adult' popup's.

Dealing with Spyware

We will cover how to get rid of Spyware in the next part of this article. We hope you found this part useful. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve any of our articles or tutorials then please let us know.
  

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Next Dealing with Spyware

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This is the first part of our 'Spyware' series of articles. Written by Alan Lloyd on behalf of WWW Security Services. You are free to reproduce this tutorial in its entirety with this statement and links left intact. You must click on the link below and use the code provided.

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