Spyware, also known as "Adware", is a nasty little security problem that has become increasingly serious over the last numbers of years.

Spyware is usually defined as software that gathers user information without the users knowledge and reports that information through the users Internet connection, often to the spyware author. Originally this information was gathered for advertising purposes but now some spyware programs actually report information on E-mail addresses, passwords and even credit card numbers. Thus some spyware programs are actually akin to Trojan Horse viruses.

Because spyware programs generally exist as independent executable programs, some have the ability to monitor keystrokes, scan files on your hard drive, snoop on other applications such as chat programs and word processors, install other spyware programs, read cookies and change the default home page on your Internet browser. Worse yet, while these items are going on, the spyware program can be continuously relaying the gathered information back to the spyware author who will either use it for advertising/ marketing purposes, other unknown purposes or sell it to some third party or parties.

Spyware gets on to your computer in a number of different ways such as:

(1) It is often bundled with purchased software or with the software for new hardware products such as say a webcam. Thus when you install the software you also install the spyware.

2) It is often downloaded from the Internet embedded in music, pictures, videos or in free software programs. In order to prevent spyware from being installed when you install the downloaded software, only download software from (known to you) companies that developed it or evaluated software from major software downloading web sites like Tucows^® and CNET^®.

(3) Cookies are often placed on your computer when you visit certain Internet web sites and some cookies, called tracking cookies, are actually considered to be spyware.

(4) One guaranteed way to become infected with spyware is to download a toolbar or a pop-up blocker. If you want these features for Internet Explorer, download and install the Google toolbar. It will solve both issues at once. A Google^® toolbar for Firefox^® is also available. Most other third party toolbars are usually, in our experience, filled with spyware.

Apart from the issues of ethics and privacy, spyware also steals your computer memory resources and later bandwidth when it uploads the collected information to the spyware's home base. Likewise the nature of spyware software can often lead to system crashes and/ or general system instability.

The best way to protect yourself from spyware is to install the following great little program (XP and Windows Server 2003 only). It is free and easily downloaded from the Internet.

Microsoft Security Essentials^®. (Free with validation for Windows Server 2003 (Service Pack 1 or later) and Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or later as it is included in all versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Note however that it is incompatible le with some Antivirus programs and will freeze your computer so be very careful.

We recommend that you run each of this programs at least once a week and every time you install new software. Please note however that although this anti spyware product is really quite good, it might not catch and remove all of the spyware. If you decide to purchase an anti spyware product to be as safe as you can possibly get, we recommend Webroot Spy Sweeper^®

Advanced Tip

Try running the spyware programs after updating and then starting up in safe mode (Typically F5 or F8 during initial start up, depending on your computer.) just to see if there is any deeply hidden spyware.

Protect Yourself

If your web browser (particularly Internet Explorer^®) isn't configured properly, some web sites can actually install spyware without asking your permission. To start with, Internet Explorer^® version 6 has two options that must be disabled.

To start with, bring up Internet Explorer^® and select Tools | Internet Options. Then click on the Advanced tab and under Browsing there is long list of options. The two items to uncheck are Enable Install on Demand (Internet Explorer), and Enable Install on Demand (Other). Once that's done, just click the OK button and you're finished.

Then, make sure you have the following free programs installed and updated on your computer:

(1) SpywareBlaster^® which will be discussed below.

(2) Microsoift Security Essentials^® Under Tools | Options make sure that the real time protection is checked and that a proper schedule is set up. Likewise make sure that the "Check for updates definitions before scanning" box is checked. In addition, please read thee the warning above.

SpywareBlaster^®

In North America, SpywareBlaster^® is a free software package for Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista and Windows 7 that will:

- Prevent the installation of ActiveX^®-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers and dialers.
- Block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer^® and Mozilla Firefox^®.
- Restrict the actions of potentially dangerous sites in Internet Explorer^®.

Install and update manually. Then press "Enable All Protection" Check once per week for updates and once manually updated, hit the "Enable All Protection" button again. Verify by keeping track of the number of items in the database and make sure there are no exceptions to the protection enabled software.