Spywear Threats And
Solutions: Protect your online and computer privacy
If you are interested in spy ware of the
spy
software variety or
physical
products, you can have a look by clicking on the links,
otherwise you can read on.
What is spy ware?
In short, spy ware is any software program that
collects information from your computer or what you do while
browsing the internet. This normally happens without your knowledge
and can cause quite a few headaches if you don't take proper
measures.
A lot of people are not aware what is happening,
but when you start receiving a lot of unwanted emails or your
internet browsing experience is less pleasurable due to things like
unwanted pop ups or a lot of advertising, then surely you must
realize that something is wrong.
The kind of spy ware that collects information
about your browsing habits or collects your email address can easily
be removed with programs such as Ad Aware and Spybot,
which is free.
Although there are other programs that might also
be needed to counter act the normal types of spy ware, Ad Aware and
Spybot are the most important and should also be used in conjunction
with a free firewall like ZoneAlarm.
You can get spy ware by downloading free stuff
from the internet or other free programs you might install. Just by
browsing the internet, you can also pick up cookies which can track
you and you should run Ad Aware and Spybot daily if you surf a lot.
Most of the time, spy ware programs that capture
your email address or browsing habits are more of an irritation than
a serious threat, but nevertheless, you should still take some
precautions by removing this spy ware.
What type of spy ware really is a serious
threat to your privacy?
There is definitely one type of spy ware that is a
serious threat. If you had a look at the link at the top of this
page, you would have seen that spy software can be installed
remotely and is undetectable. It really records everything you do on
your computer and personal details such as credit card info or
passwords can be compromised if it falls into the wrong hands.
Spy software is perfectly legal if you install it
on your own computer, a computer you own or you have permission from
the owner, otherwise not. A lot of people are searching for spy
software and buying it, but ask yourself, are they all using it in a
legal way? Because spy software employs sneaky methods to avoid
detection, it is very difficult to detect this kind of spy ware
yourself by manually looking for it.
The best way to deal with the spy
ware problem as mentioned above, is to use a product like
Spy
Cop, which has the largest database to detect and disable
virtually any kind of spy ware software.
Of course there are other products that can do the
same, but do they really detect all spy software? Even if they miss
one file, that is just one too many and you
are still at risk.