How to Remove Spyware?
by Andy Headington
Spyware - Is someone watching you?
Spyware is becoming one of the biggest threats to the home PC, annoying and frustrating users and making their information, such as passwords or even bank details, available to the wrong people. This article tells you why spyware gets onto your PC, how it can be prevented and how to easily get rid of it. FOR FREE.
What is Spyware?
Spyware is termed as software which installs itself onto a user's machine (normally without the user's permission) and monitors their actions without them knowing. Spyware is not to be confused with 'adware' or 'malware'. Adware is software which installs itself onto your machine with the intension of promoting adverts depending on the information it captures about you. Malware (or MALicious softWARE) is software which gets onto your machine and causes viruses, worms or trojans to run without the user knowing.
If you read the computer press or even articles on websites such as the BBC (read more) you have no doubt read about spyware and how it can affect your PC and your privacy.
How does Spyware work?
Spyware works by running a program or 'processes' behind the scenes of your computer. This means that unless you know what you are looking for or feel that your machine is starting to behave in strange ways, you are unlikely to know that you are ever being monitored. Some types of spyware will run to cause a nuisance to your machine by launching advertising pop-ups (sometimes based on the website or search engine you use), changing your browser homepage or even dialing premium rate numbers on your PC Modem so that you are left with massive phone bills (read more). Other things which come under the spyware banner include tracking cookies, which collect information from thousands of sites to see who visits what and when, along with things which bury themselves deep into your computer memory and track other data.
How does Spyware get onto my machine?
A good question! The developers of spyware use the weaknesses of Internet Explorer (IE) to their advantage to get their spyware to download on your machine.IE is intrinsically badly designed and the spyware developers use this and the naivety of inexperienced computer users to get their spyware programs onto PC's. Sometimes the spyware program doesn't directly download into a users machine instead a small program will download which will then download the spyware or malware program and install itself. If the spyware program is particularly bad, it will bury itself into the machine meaning that even if you delete it from your machine, it will come back time and time again unless removed professionally or using specialist removal software.
If you see a pop up box similar to this, then chance are it is something trying to install onto your machine.
We recommend that you never click YES to this unless you are certain you can trust the site it is coming from.
Another major reason for the increase in spyware is the growth of file sharing programs like KaZaA which can come bundled with various spyware and adware programs which will install themselves, again without the users knowledge (read more).
Who writes spyware and malware programs?
The authors of spyware and malware programs have a variety of motivations and reasons for producing spyware and adware programs. Some of the reasons are listed below:
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Advertising revenue
Adware programs will often pop up adverts depending on the searches you conduct. This makes the Adware authors money as they will get a small amount of money every time an advert shows. However, if this operates on a global scale, the authors can soon strike it rich. If you think it's only small bedroom companies doing this then you might be interested to know that Yahoo own a company called Claria (also known as Gator corp), who are one of the biggest adware software companies in the world. In an attempt to 'keep face' Yahoo recently introduced a spyware remover into their toolbar to show that they are fighting spyware. When it was first introduced, it didn't remove Claria products very effectively, however after this was realised by certain people in the industry, things soon changed.
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Fraud
The aim of some spyware programs, as the name suggests, is to spy on your computer activities. This could be your passwords, personal details or even your bank details. When you enter information it is transmitted to a server and this information can then be used to purchase goods from your account or use your information for other fraudulent purposes.
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Ego
It's hard to believe but some of the authors of spyware, adware or malware programs will simply do it to prove a point to themselves or to their peers or associates. By introducing the latest 'annoyance' to peoples machines gives their ego boost and makes them feel important. These are very sad individuals!
What can I do to stop spyware?
There are many things which PC users can do to stop spyware, the biggest in my opinion is to stop using Internet Explorer! The problems with IE are well documented and many see it as being anything from a out of date piece of software to the biggest threat to internet security today (read more). Ok, how are you going to do this? Well, my advice is to start using something like Mozilla Firefox. Promoted as 'the web reinvented', its not only more secure at stopping spyware and virus from getting onto your machine, its also a lot easier to use and customise (I'm not the only one!). In an example study, I used IE for one month and found 24 objects classed as spyware on my machine. One month using Firefox produced only 2 objects.
If you don't want to change to something like Firefox or have been using IE for sometime then you will need to remove the spyware and associated files on your machine. In this case you will need a spyware removal program which will remove all of the spyware programs and files on your machine. The best place to start is with something like Ad-aware or Search and DestroyBoth of these programs can be downloaded for free and are widely recognised as being the best at removing the majority of spyware found on PC's. For a more advanced tool try PestPatrol, a heavy duty spyware removal program which is recommended for experienced and business users. Other companies are picking up on the spyware threat and are trying to fight spyware. Check out the Yahoo toolbar or Pestscan for some online alternatives.
Note: Some programs may also offer themselves as being spyware removal programs but may infact make things worse. We only recommend the spyware removal programs mentioned above and accept no responsibility for any data lost using them.
Where can I find out more?
The spyware epidemic is now becoming more and more publicised as the Internet grows and grows and security issues become important. The best place to start is www.spywareinfo.com, a news and information service run by Mike Helan who is recognised as one of the leaders against the spyware fight and sends out weekly newsletters on the latest threats and news. If you don't want to start there, try the BBC or Google and you'll find more than you bargained for!
Spyware Removal - Downloads
Anti-Spyware Resources
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