Computer Repair Las Vegas – Kingdom Computers brings to you the second part in a series of articles explaining what exactly Viruses, Spyware and Pop-Ups are. We will explain how they effect your computer, and the steps you can take to reduce your computers risk of infection. If you missed the first article in this series you can get it Here: Computer Repair Las Vegas – Viruses, Spyware, Adware, What are they? Part 1.
Before we get into the nitty gritty of removing these buggers it will be good for you to know just what each of these pieces of Malware do to your computer, as well as the symptoms of their horseplay and what to avoid so they do not get on your computer in the future.
So lets begin!
Spyware by design — exploits infected computers for commercial gain. It is estimated that 9 out of 10 computers connected to the Internet are infected with Spyware. Why has it grown so tremendously these past few years? Well, as with most things in life, it is motivated by one thing: Money!
The basic purpose of Spyware is to monitor your activities on the Internet as well as collect various types of personal information to report to advertising agencies so they can be more effective at targeting products to your interests.
Spyware is typically installed on a users computer in deceptive ways.
Many times Spyware will come bundled with a piece of shareware or free software. When you install the free software Spyware will install itself in the background. Although the desirable software itself may do no harm, the bundled Spyware does. In some cases, Spyware authors have paid shareware authors to bundle Spyware with their software. In other cases, Spyware authors have repackaged desirable free software with installers that add Spyware.
Let me repeat: Spyware will piggyback on legitimate programs and install themselves in the background without the users knowledge.
Spyware will also use the Trojan horse method. A deceptive pop-up message is displayed disguising itself as a legitimate error message.
Many times these error messages mention something along the lines of:
These messages persuade you to click and install this piece of software. This software is usually a piece of Spyware that will download many of its friends creating an even bigger problem for you!
The installation of Spyware frequently involves Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer is tightly integrated with the Windows operating system and has many vulnerabilities that Spyware authors can exploit. These vulnerabilities allow Spyware to install Browser Helper Objects into Internet Explorer which add tool bars or redirect your browser traffic. Many of these vulnerabilities can be fixed by keeping your computer updated with the latest Windows updates or switching to an entirely different browser such as Firefox.
Spyware commonly interferes with your computer by:
- Installing additional programs and tool bars in your Internet Explorer without your consent..
- Causing your computer to become unresponsive or perform sluggishly, making you want to toss your computer out the window.
I have tried to keep this information to a minimum and give you just the basics of Spyware. If you would like more information on Spyware, the Wikipedia on Spyware is a great source.
Now that you know what Spyware is and how it affects your system, where it comes from and what to look for, let’s move on to removing these parasites from your computer.
Computer Repair Las Vegas – Kingdom Computers is dedicated to bringing you valuable information to make you a more effecient computer user. Be sure to check back often for updates to our help desk section.
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