Understanding Spyware And Do You Have It?

What is spyware? It's any type of technology that collects and gathers information on an individual without the person knowing. These spyware are at times called spybots, or even tracking software. How does it get onto your computer? You know those pop-up ads that come up all the time, well a lot of those will install spyware onto your computer just with a simple click. At times you may get adware on your computer, the companies who's ad's cause the addition of adware to your computer don't like it being called spyware, but really it's got the same results as spyware, collecting and gathering of information.

Another potential way spyware can access your computer is a software virus, or perhaps the installation of a new program you recently added.

Cookies will store information about anyone who is using the internet on your computer. However at times websites will store the information from you in a cookie also, without your knowledge, thus the cookie would be spyware. Spyware happens to be one of the public's biggest concerns when it comes to your privacy on the Internet.

One of the biggest infestations of spyware took place in 1999, a free game called "Elf Bowling" was extremely popular, however people didn't realize when they downloaded the game they also downloaded tracking software.

How do you know that you have spyware on your computer? Check out the following signs:

You see pop-ups a lot. Usually when you open up websites your going to see a few pop-ups, but if you start to see a whole bunch and they aren't even related to the website your viewing, usually adult websites. You may have spyware or even some other unwanted software.

Your settings have changed and you can't get them back to the previous way. Certain spyware can change your home or search page settings without you agreeing to it. It may let you switch the settings back, but when you go and restart your computer the settings will be back to the unwanted settings.

Web browser has more components then you downloaded. Spyware can add more toolbars to your browser that you haven't added yourself. Again you may be able to remove these, but upon restart they may be back again.

Your computer is slow. Spyware will affect the efficiency of your computer. Perhaps a program may continually crash, or your computer is just overall slower you most likely have spyware on your computer.

There are several places to look online to help you learn how to remove the unwanted spyware or other software from your computer. There are software's to purchase out there to that will help to avoid another spyware infection. Just try and not download a program that you're not sure about, this will help in not getting that nasty spyware on your computer. You can ask all your friends spyware is prominent in a lot of unknown downloads, perhaps with a bit of communication you can avoid these spyware infections, or help your friends not get caught by the same problem!

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