Malware is any program that is specifically designed to cause harm in some way to your computer or the files on it. But what’s considered harmful is sometimes a matter of opinion, but things like Trojans, viruses, pop-ups, spam, and spyware have all been called harmful at some point. But everyone has a different opinion.

Adware
Adware comes in two different varieties – it can be software that’s supported through advertising and is nothing more than a nuisance or it can be the bad kind of software. When supported through advertising, adware is used to generate revenue for a particular website through paid supporters. It’s like television commercials, and though sometimes annoying, doesn’t cause you any real harm. Except maybe some of those cheesy after-shave ads… they’re just terrible!

The other kind of adware is much more malicious. It can monitor your browsing habits and then delivers targeted advertising based on what it discovers about you. It’s often considered a type of spyware, especially when – as often happens – it’s installed without your permission and without your knowledge.

It’s a bit gray as to when adware becomes spyware, but some software designers argue that they are granted the right to this kind of adware within the user agreements that we are all asked to read and agree to, but since most of us don’t really read the fine print, we don’t know that we have effectively agreed to this kind of advertising.

Spyware
Though adware can be a nuisance, spyware is another beast altogether. This refers to software that goes beyond simply monitoring you browsing habits. Spyware actually redirects you to advertising sites.

In some cases, the Federal Trade Commission has indicted people who create this kind of software, but it’s often hard to pin down who is responsible for the development of the spyware. Its often arrives in another program or as part of the ‘payload’ of a virus or worm. In some countries, it’s simply illegal.

Sometimes software vendors require that you install the spyware as part of the software. Though it’s annoying, you are required to install this part of the software to get the good software that you are trying to install and there’s no way to uninstall the small spyware module hidden inside.

When you have spyware on your computer, it gathers information about your browsing habits and then delivers targeted advertising to you. It might pay attention to your age, gender and the sites you visit. Theoretically, the advertising that is then delivered to you will be right for your needs, but it’s still annoying.

The spyware vendors argue that they don’t collect really personal information that might be a breach of privacy, but there is, naturally, a controversy over what constitutes personal information and how much of the information they collect about you is appropriate.

While advertisers argue that spyware offers them the best method to deliver advertising that’s relevant to the market targeted, that doesn’t make it any less of an annoyance. Advertisers argue that their advertising is another version of free speech, while we – the users – argue that free speech rarely redirects them to websites they didn’t want to visit, provide them with ads they didn’t want to see, or send them emails they’re not interested in reading.

By: Niall Roche

About the Author:

Adware-Spyware Reviews

Let’s take a moment to make an inventory of what programs we are running now in our computers. Chances are, we have the Adobe Reader, an AOL or Yahoo Messenger, web-hosting programs, free email clients, some widgets, and a few free programs here and there. These are some of the many software applications we installed and what we all do not know offhand is that we also download adware completely free when we downloaded and installed them.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be, and you shouldn’t feel cheated or angered too. Why? These are harmless – they only want to display some ads related to you so the developers of your favorite programs can go on developing other applications you may want to download too later on.

When we download adware completely free with the applications we choose to install, we help the software developers recover some costs for software development, and for future upgrades. These adwares are also a way for them to maintain and sustain the freebies or sharewares they offer users.

Yes, there are adwares that are considered really harmful since they act like the malwares, spywares, or viruses. But this type of adware that we’re talking to here is that program, which keeps track of your surfing habits so it can pull the right ads to display and possibly offer you products or services that you may be interested in.

The term adware may have a negative implication because of the privacy invasion. The popping of advertisements here and there too, can disturb us during work or play so we find ways to get rid of them.

Many spyware programs carry advertisements with them. These ads pop on a regular basis, say one for every minute, or whenever the user opens a certain application, or browser window. Others display ads when a specific website is visited. These are all attractive to advertisers so developers make the most of them.

Advertisements are in the form of banner ads, pop ups, or flickering banners which appear because you did download adware completely free when you installed a nice program.

There are several programs that can detect these programs and remove them from the system. Some of these clean up programs can clear both adware and spyware. But make sure you’re getting the right ones. The more popular ones are Ad-Aware and Spybot. These two can detect spyware but not viruses but there antivirus software applications that can do more.

Adwares have distinct fingerprints in your computer system in the form of registry entries, files, folders, or memory processes that an anti-spyware can detect.

So, the next time you go surfing with the intention to find the latest upgrades for any existing widget, messenger or email client you have, remember that aside from the actual programs that are offered for free, there are freebies attached to these programs in the form of advertising-supported software.

If you can tolerate having the ads popping on your screen then you can always download adware completely free together with the latest upgrades of your favorite widget and utilities.

By: Kelly Purden

About the Author:

Adware-Spyware Reviews

What is adware and how does it effect your PC? These programs are designed to run advertisements. They are more annoying then anything else and these programs are downloaded onto your computer to show advertisements. Some of these programs can ad popup advertisements, these popup by the dozens at one time. These program advertisements may range from what you are currently doing on your PC to advertisements that have absolutely no relevance to what you are doing.

Many times these programs are downloaded with other software and in many cases are part of the overall package and license agreement. They can many times be associated with other programs such as Computer games, file sharing Programs, Some Search Engines, Emoticons and many others. Most adware is more annoying then harmful.

Some adware programs work a lot like spyware. These programs will note what actions the user performs when surfing the internet.

Although most of these programs are harmless to your PC some are Malicious and these usually are not included with freeware. Some of these programs may trick you into downloading and installing by offering some kind of tricky popup ad that may entice you into doing so. Some take form of error pages that may popup or even Microsoft error alerts that tell you to click on a button to fix the problem, when you click this button this is the invitation it was waiting for.

Some of These adware programs can have a serious adverse effect on your PC when it comes to performance. As mentioned earlier they will many times throw popups by the dozens on your screen and these will continue to popup just as fast or faster then you can close them. This slows down productivity time and may slow down your computer significantly. If these symptoms are on your PC then get the protection you need.

It is always good to be informed of these threats and how they can effect your computer. These mini articles are simply to inform people of the basic characteristics of these programs. Helping others keep their PC safe from attacks, will ultimately help prevent down time. Most computers are protect, but for those that are not, protection is vital when surfing on today’s internet. These program threats are increasing at a rate faster then good software and this is a scary thought. If your PC is not protected start the process now and protect you property.

By: Mike Slight

About the Author:

Best Adware-Spyware Reviews

Malicious software is never a good thing to have on your computer. Most Spyware programs get installed on your computer without your knowledge and they collect information about were you go on the internet and even what you type in. The most annoying part of this is the pop-ups. Often times these can be very offensive. Many of the pop-ups you will see will say something like “Your computer is infected download this program now”. What they are trying to do is sell you a fix to the problem they gave. Spy Sheriff is one such program. Besides your identity being at risk malware will slow your computer way down and your productivity and sanity will suffer.

Most people know they need an anti-spyware program but which ones work best. The following 4 programs are free ones that work. These programs while good do not really in my opinion give you the best security. I recommend purchasing a program but for free versions these take the cake.

Avast Home Edition

Avast has both an anti-virus and anti-spyware program. Avast is simple to use and does a good job preventing it from infecting your computer. If you are already infected it will remove most of the spyware on your computer but chances are it will not get it all. For a free version I would say it works very well.

AVG Anti-Spyware

I personally like AVG anti-spyware. Like Avast, AVG has a spyware and virus suit in two different packages that are free. The free version will actively run on your computer and remove most spyware. It does a great job of preventing spyware in the first place but lacks in the removal department. Again for a free based program this one is one of the leading on the markets.

Spybot S&D

Spybot search and destroy has been a leader for many years when it comes to malware removal. The newest version has something called tea timer that actively runs on your computer and blocks most malicious programs for getting in. They also have an immunization database that will block known bad sites. The program itself does an excellent job removing threats and all in all is my favorite free spyware program because of how well it works and stability.

Ad-Aware

Ad-aware is another great program and works well to compliment Spybot. The newest version does a great job scanning and removing threats. The one down side is in the latest release it seems to bug you to upgrade and purchase the program. I find this a little annoying. Ad-aware will not do an active scan unless your purchase the program. You can only choose the best spyware removal program for you and your computer network depending on your own particular needs so make sure that you determine how serious your problem is before making any final decisions here.

By: Jacob Erdei

About the Author:

Adware-Spyware Reviews