What Is Spyware?
You hear a lot about spyware these days and unfortunately many of us have dealt with it first hand. I think anyone who has had to deal with spyware knows at least one thing about it; It’s annoying. Sometimes it can be even more than just annoying, sometimes spyware can be used to steal your identity.
Everyone hates spyware (except for maybe the evil people who create it) but what is it exactly?
It’s computer software that is usually downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge. This spyware software collects personal information about the user(s) of the computer that it is running on.
Among the information that spyware may record are the websites that users of the computer go to, keystrokes entered into the computer (worst case scenario being the recording of important secret passwords), and the contents of the computer’s hard drive. Spyware may scan the hard drive looking for information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and passwords.
Spyware can be intended to do a variety of things. It can be intended to steal your financial information and steal your identity or it can merely be trying to collect data on you for advertising purposes. While the latter may not be nearly as serious it’s almost as annoying.
If you’re like me then you don’t want any program running on your computer that you didn’t purposely run yourself. One of the best methods of preventing spyware is to be careful of what websites you surf to and what email you open. Never open an email that looks suspicious and has an attachment (even if it’s from someone you know.) Sometimes emails are forwarded that have very bad attachments that the person who is sending it to you may not have any clue about. Avoiding certain types of websites will also improve your odds of avoiding spyware. Websites which claim to offer “free” anything may also be sending your computer free spyware, for example. Free “adult” websites and websites which offer “cracks” are among the most dangerous sites. Also be wary of most sites which have popups. Sometimes popups are harmless but unfortunately they are also often used for evil.
Luckily there is some software that has been developed to combat spyware. This software of course costs money but I find that it is really essential these days due to the constant barrage of spyware that attacks computers on the internet today.
Spyware can be merely annoying but it can sometimes be much worse than that. You have to protect your computer and surf smart.
About the Author
Johnny Moon is one of the reviewers for SmartReviews.INFO who helped choose
XoftSpySE
as the top SpyWare protection software available today.
