Lavasoft
Got any software keeping tabs on your online operations? Are you sure? There are quite a few pieces of spyware out there. AD-aware will find them and give you the option to delete what it has found. It copes with all the latest versions of these insidious lodgers. If you don't want your 'profile' held in a database for others then this is well worth running, you might be surprised at what it finds.
What is Spyware?
Until the advent of the internet advertisers previously had to carry to carry out door-to-door surveys to assess the impact of their advertising campaigns. As more and more advertisers transferred to the Internet placing their adverts on web pages a method of monitoring their effectivemness had to be found. So the advertisers developed something called "dynamic advertising" - we call it "Spyware".
It all began when some advertising agencies attached code to adverts which are contained in freeware programs and utilities. You may use some of the programs you may use yourself (they are usually obtained by visiting a web site and downloading a program) although not all free programs, whether they show adverts or not, contain spyware. Some free programs are written by students as part of their coursework - and spyware is no longer restricted to free programs; even commercial programs can be infected.
What does Spyware do?
It collects information about you and your computer and sends it to the agency each time you go online. If your hard drive seems to whirr continously while you're on the internet, chances are you have been infected by spyware.
But the development of spyware code didn't stop there. Spyware became a piece of code attached to an image as small as one pixel. A full stop is one pixel. Inserted into a web page image, it is impossible to see. The attached code sends information about the internet sites you visit, when you went there and what sites you visited before you got there.
Why should an advertiser put spyware on your computer or on web pages? Because they also want to know which programs you use, how often you use them and for what reason. They want to know who you correspond with, who is in your circle of friends or colleagues. They want to know which web sites you visit, what you buy and how you buy it. Spyware can have some far reaching implications - can you trust the advertising agencies not to pass on your personal details to all and sundry across the globe?
Examples of Spyware
If you use the Netscape browser you may have updated some or part of the browser over the internet. When you download using the Netscape update facility you are also downloading spyware.
A useful program called Digiguide, which allows you to download information and schedules on television programs used to be advert-based. The adverts also contained spyware. (Digiguide has ceased to be advert-based and is now only available to subscribers.)
Although there are some useful programs that are available for free download on the internet, so many so-called free programs now carry a price - your privacy. Be very sure of what you are downloading. If you recognise the Ad-enabled "privacy" warning many of the programs carry before you install the program, it is too late. The damage has already been done. You cannot cancel the installation and stop your computer becoming infected. By the time you click cancel the spyware has already been installed.
On a personal note I ran Ad-Aware for the first time and found 70 (yes SEVENTY) pieces of Spyware code installed on my laptop of which 66 were classified as SUSPICIOUS!
Website: http://www.lavasoft.com
Requirements
Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME or NT