Beat the Spyware and Adware
Information from an article in the September 2003 and the August 2004 issue of Smart Computing Magazine.
How Spyware Works
Spyware is software that is designed to install itself on your computer, monitor what you do, send your perseonal information to complete strangers, or take your PC's idle resources to make your PC part of a supercomputer network used by companies so they don't have to use thier own resources. This is called distributed
computing. Many legitimate organizations do good work through distributed computing. The difference is that spyware uses your PC without your permission.
Spyware used to track what you do on your computer interposes itself between your browser and the Internet. It can monitor your keystrokes, URLs, and online shopping, and use this information do everything from targeting you with pop-ups designed to suit your interests and stealing your credit card number. (Programs that track your surfing to target you with adds are spyware-based adware, which are different then the adware used in freeware programs which run small, non-intrusive adds to offset the cost of production).
How it Gets on Your PC
Most often, spyware is installed when you install certain types of freeware and shareware on your PC, but's also possible for spyware designers to put a
web bug into a web page or email message to monitor user behavior. In emails, these can send your email address to a spammer as a legitmate one. In a web page, it can record the time the page was accessed, and by what IP address (which is why one legitimate use of web bugs on pages is to curtail copywrite violaions).
Avoidance and Removal
- Disable Email HTML support. This will keep web bugs from opperating.
- Read freeware and shareware licence agreements very carefully. Many companies that make freeware disclose the fact that spyware comes with their programs, but don't call attention to it.
- You should never HAVE to install spyware. Often, freeware programs require spyware to work. Don't use such programs. There are more than likely other free programs out there that don't, such as Open Source programs which allow anyone who wants to get and work on the code for the programs, as well as the the programs themselves.
- Click No. When you see those popups asking you if you want to install and run some kind of software unless you know EXACTLY what the software does and why you need it (like a flash plug-in, for example).
- Use anti-spyware software. There are many paid and free software programs out there for spyware removal. Smart Computing recommends getting and using several free versions at the same time, since they tend to fill in the gaps in each other's functionality. Good ones to have are Ad-Aware from Lavasoft and Spybot Search and Destroy from PepiMK Software. Be sure to read the documentation from Spybot and make sure you don't use this powerful program to disable important system files which can sometimes (though not often) be misinterpeted as trouble-makers. Fortunatly, Spybot has a restore feature you can use to undo the damage if you accidentally "destroy" something you shouldn't have.
- Keep your software updated. Like anti-virus software, anti-spyware software has to be updated often to work properly, since new spyware is being developed all the time. Check the provider's website at least once a month. Also, periodically check your software to make sure it's still there. Some types of spyware can actually look for anti-spyware on your system and uninstall it.
- Firewalls. Windows XP users have a built-in firewall available to them. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections, then right-click the icon for Internet Connections, click Properties, select the Advanced tab, and put a checkmark by "Protect my Computer by Limiting or Preventing Access to this Computer from the Internet." This will watch for people trying to access your PC from the outside, but WILL NOT monitor outbound communications. For that, you can get a free software-based firewall from Zone Labs. HREF="http://www.zonelabs.com">ZoneLabs.com There is also Sygate Personal Firewall which, like Zone Labs, offers free basic versions and paid Pro versions.