Spyware - Introduction, symptoms, prevention and removal

Introduction

Spyware is the term associated with software that is designed to illegally obtain your personal information, for use in criminal activity - namely identity theft and fraud. This information is recorded secretly through a variety of methods, often recording what you type on your keyboard. Spyware often also records the websites you visit, your financial information from online forms and copies personal documents. If your computer becomes infected with spyware, the creator of that spyware can access anything that you can access on your computer and home computer network.

Spyware software would then send this information over the Internet to it's creator, for their use in tracking computer users, or potentially for identity or financial fraud.

Where does it come from

You can become infected with spyware from two sources: emails and websites. Always exercise caution when using either, and keep the prevention methods listed below in the back of your mind. Addition security can be added to the Mozilla Firefox web browser, and is described in the Internet Browsers  section.

Symptoms

If you have reason to believe that your computer may be infected with spyware, there are several give-aways:

• Website popups appearing when computer not in use.
• Hard drive activity when not in use, although this may be caused by non-malicious factors.
• Shortcuts appearing for software you don't recognise - often gambling or pornography related.

These symptoms can also be caused by other malicious software and viruses .

Prevention

By taking several precautions, spyware infection will generally be minimal.

1. Run anti-spyware software
2. Avoid bad Internet neighbourhoods
3. Use an effective email spam filter & follow our spam guidelines .
4. Don't open anything from anyone you don't know.

Due to a massive increase in spyware over the last few years, many anti-virus vendors also sell versions of their software generally referred to as 'Internet Security' suites. These are a good option, as they would generally include anti-virus, an email spam filter and anti-spyware. Even with this software installed though, you should never consider yourself completely protected.

As well as running active anti-spyware software, try to run a manual spyware check once a week or so. A free spyware checking program called Spybot Search and Destroy is available, and is updated regularly. The latest version of Microsoft Windows Vista includes Windows Defender, which is designed to detect and prevent spyware infection, but should not be used alone.

Removal

In most spyware infection cases, anti-spyware software should prevent infection, and should remove any traces of spyware should you become infected. If it cannot be removed it may be best to contact a computer support specialist such as myself, bearinig in mind that the situation may get worse should it be left untreated.