What is Spyware?
Spyware (also called adware) is typically
bundled as a nasty surprise present
in freeware or shareware programs that
you download from the web (free music
sites are favourites). But so many websites
these days have sold their souls to
advertisers that as soon as you connect
to their page, the Spyware comes barrelling
down the line to your PC.
Clogging up your PC's arteries is irritating
enough, but there can be more to it.
Really speaking you see, Spyware is
there to gather information about you
via your internet connection. It can
monitor keystrokes (and yes that does
mean when you enter passwords, credit
card numbers etc), scan files on your
hard disk and relay all the information
back to the Spyware author, who can
use it for advertising/marketing … or
even sell it on to a third party.
The impact you're likely to see is a
severe deterioration in your PC or network's
performance. You may also find that
when you go on the internet, you're
sent to a page you didn't want to go
to (and no matter how often you set
your home page where you want it to
be, you can't seem to go there). It's
reckoned the average PC plays host to
28 pieces of Spyware.
How did I get it?
As we mentioned above, it's common for
it to piggyback onto freebie downloads
or on file-sharing websites. Somewhere
in the software licence agreement, it
should tell you that it could from time
to time download software onto your
PC, but users aren't very good at reading
licence agreements.
Not downloading free software altogether would help….but it still isn't enough. Spyware is getting more devious all the time and just browsing the web can be enough. This is so-called "drive-by" downloading, where the code sits there waiting to ambush you when you happen along. Traditionally there's a lure involved to make sure you want to visit the site. (In the past, this sort of thing has been associated with porn sites and the darker corners of the web, but now fairly innocuous-sounding sites can be a trap). In perhaps the most annoying double-cross, some of the sites purporting to offer free downloads of anti-Spyware software are actually sending the Spyware.
Just to reiterate, Spyware is not the same as a virus and so may not be detected by your existing anti-virus measures (although many manufacturers are bringing in anti-Spyware protection as part of the overall package). And a firewall, if you have one, is only meant to deter uninvited intrusion - the trouble with Spyware is that it isn't uninvited. Whether you meant to or not, you brought it in.
How do I get rid of it?
With difficulty, frankly. Sometimes there's just no hope for it except to scrub the PC and reinstall everything. Yes, really. There are however two good anti-Spyware packages out there that we know of - spybot and ad-aware. As it's clearly hard to tell the good download sites from the deceitful download sites, we recommend you access them from this website - the links will take you to a safe website from which you can download. Run them both and do so regularly.
Removing Spyware can be a long and tedious business and it's incumbent upon us to mention that it isn't covered by our hardware maintenance contracts and is unlikely to be covered by anyone else's either. It isn't, after all, due to any kind of hardware failure. So if you call an engineer out to clear it, you could find yourself with a hefty bill.
How do I avoid getting it?
Some people find that using a browser other than Internet Explorer or Netscape can help - for example Firefox users say they rarely get bothered by Spyware. The most important thing you have to grasp is that the websites you need to visit in the legitimate course of your business are unlikely to introduce anything damaging onto your PCs. Which may mean that you need to exercise more control over the use of your business PCs. On our website, we offer an outline Computer Policy document, and we would recommend you at least look at this, whether or not you decide to adopt it to any degree.
Aurora
IT Solutions will be introducing a client area
where you can "build" and order your PC online.
