What is Spyware ?
Risks are a part of every aspect of life. When you drive in your car, you risk you life; when you invest, you risk your money; and when you surf the Web, you risk being vulnerable to online threats. One of these threats is spyware. Spyware does exactly what its name implies, and more. It is not to be confused with adware, which monitors your internet activities to determine what types of advertisements you should see or what types to throw at people in your demographic, for market research purposes.
Spyware can get into your computer without you even knowing it. Unlike a virus, which you will know is there as soon as it harms your computer, spyware stays undetected in the background and get information from your files, your internet sessions, and you anything else that is on or is done on your PC. Some people have even had their personal information stolen using these programs. As a matter of fact, the man who coined the term “spyware” found out about these programs after having his own information stolen off of this computer.
Luckily, you can get anti-spyware programs that will allow you to remove any spyware that is already on your hard drive and prevent any new spyware from being installed. As the occurrence of spyware has grown, so have the amount of anti-spyware available for purchase. They range in price from relatively cheap to relatively expensive, so that everyone can afford some sort of protection. They all have different features and settings. They more options you get, the more the anti-spyware program is likely to cost.
Every person should invest in some sort of anti-spyware program for every computer they own, even if you have to buy the cheapest one. If your computer is able to connect to the internet, then it is at risk of becoming a victim of spyware.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:34 am
Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
Allen Taylor
July 8th, 2008 at 3:34 am
Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
Allen Taylor
August 5th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Nice article, but I must point out the flaw in the statement “Unlike a virus, which you will know is there as soon as it harms your computer…” Today’s virus writers are in it for the money, not fame and glory as used to be the case. A virus or Trojan will do everything it can to avoid detection these days, and will do no visible damage. It will however happily reside on one’s computer and collect keystrokes or give remote access to botnet controllers out to steal data, identities, etc.