Spyware / Malware Explained

Wikipedia defines spyware as "technology that gathers information about a person and/or their computer, and transmits it to someone else: advertisers, law enforcement officials, hackers, etc." It sends information on you and/or your machine back to its home servers, including IP addresses, email addresses, system configurations, and in some instances, credit card and personal information.

Malware (short for MALicious softWARE) actively alters and/or damages your system, including browser resettings, rewrites of your configuration, entries into your Registry, system crashes, and more. Sometimes the line between malware and viruses is pretty blurred. The term is often used to cover the entire range of "hostile" software, including viruses, trojans, and worms.

Who is spying on you? Are there trojans and viruses lurking in your computer? Has your browser been hi-jacked? Is your system too slow or plagued with crashes and freezes?

Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowledge, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies.

Spybot is a nifty little program that's easy to use. It scans your hard drive for these pests, serves up the results with information about the company who is spying on you and recommendations on removal of these snoops from your computer. Best of all, it's free. Visit Spybot-S&D. Download the program, then scan your hard drive, you'll be amazed at what it finds in your computer.

Nikki Amelse
Treasure Coast Host
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01/04/04

Phone: 772-214-4670 or send an email to: nikki@treasurecoasthost.com