what is spyware and how does it infect your pc?

Answer 1

"Spyware is a general term used to describe software that performs certain behaviors such as advertising, collecting personal information, or changing the configuration of your computer, generally without appropriately obtaining your consent first."

Spyware is often associated with software that displays advertisements (called adware) or software that tracks personal or sensitive information.
spyware make changes to your computer that can be annoying and can cause your computer slow down or crash.

These programs can change your Web browser's home page or search page, or add additional components to your browser you don't need or want. These programs also make it very difficult for you to change your settings back to the way you originally had them.

There are a number of ways spyware or other unwanted software can get on your computer. A common trick is to covertly install the software during the installation of other software you want such as a music or video file sharing program.

Whenever you install something on your computer, make sure you carefully read all disclosures, including the license agreement and privacy statement. Sometimes the inclusion of unwanted software in a given software installation is documented, but it might appear at the end of a license agreement or privacy statement.

Spyware can also get in a computer as a software virus.it is often installed without the user's consent as a drive-by download (which is a program that is automatically downloaded to your computer, often without your consent or even your knowledge. It can be initiated by simply visiting a Web site or viewing an HTML e-mail message). Xupiter, an Internet Explorer toolbar program, is frequently installed as a drive-by download. The program is said to replace the user's home page, change browser settings, and use redirection to take all searches to the Xupiter Web site. In some versions, the program initiates drive-by downloads of other programs. Furthermore, although it comes with an uninstall utility, Xupiter is said to be next to impossible for the average computer user to remove.

You can also get spyware by clicking some option in a deceptive pop-up window.

The cookie is a well-known mechanism for storing information about an Internet user on their own computer. If a Web site stores information about you in a cookie that you don't know about, the cookie can be considered a form of spyware. A cookie is information that a Web site puts on your hard disk so that it can remember something about you at a later time. (More technically, it is information for future use that is stored by the server on the client side of a client/server communication.) Typically, a cookie records your preferences when using a particular site. Using the Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), each request for a Web page is independent of all other requests. For this reason, the Web page server has no memory of what pages it has sent to a user previously or anything about your previous visits. A cookie is a mechanism that allows the server to store its own information about a user on the user's own computer. You can view the cookies that have been stored on your hard disk (although the content stored in each cookie may not make much sense to you). The location of the cookies depends on the browser. Internet Explorer stores each cookie as a separate file under a Windows subdirectory. Netscape stores all cookies in a single cookies.txt fle. Opera stores them in a single cookies.dat file.

Answer 2

Spyware is computer software that collects personal information about users without their informed consent. The term, coined in 1995 but not widely used for another five years, is often used interchangeably with adware and malware (software designed to infiltrate and damage a computer).

Spyware does not directly spread in the manner of a computer virus or worm: generally, an infected system does not attempt to transmit the infection to other computers. Instead, spyware gets on a system through deception of the user or through exploitation of software vulnerabilities.

Most spyware is installed without users being aware. Since they tend not to install software if they know that it will disrupt their working environment and compromise their privacy, spyware deceives users, either by piggybacking on a piece of desirable software such as Kazaa, or tricking them into installing it (the Trojan horse method). Some "rogue" anti-spyware programs even masquerade as security software.

Spyware can also come bundled with shareware or other downloadable software, as well as music CDs. The user downloads a program and installs it, and the installer additionally installs the spyware

Answer 3

Spyware is computer software that collects personal information about users without their informed consent. The term, coined in 1995 but not widely used for another five years, is often used interchangeably with adware and malware (software designed to infiltrate and damage a computer).

Personal information is secretly recorded with a variety of techniques, including logging keystrokes, recording Internet web browsing history, and scanning documents on the computer's hard disk. Purposes range from overtly criminal (theft of passwords and financial details) to the merely annoying (recording Internet search history for targeted advertising, while consuming computer resources). Spyware may collect different types of information. Some variants attempt to track the websites a user visits and then send this information to an advertising agency. More malicious variants attempt to intercept passwords or credit card numbers as a user enters them into a web form or other applications.

The spread of spyware has led to the development of an entire anti-spyware industry. Its products remove or disable existing spyware on the computers they are installed on and prevent its installation. However, a number of companies have incorporated forms of spyware into their products. These programs are not considered malware, but are still spyware as they watch and observe for advertising purposes. It is debatable whether such 'legitimate' uses of adware/spyware are malware since the user often has no knowledge of these 'legitimate' programs being installed on his/her computer and is generally unaware that these programs are infringing on his/her privacy. In any case, these programs still use the resources of the host computer without permission.

Answer 4

Viruses and spywares are programs launched in the net by people to meet their self intrests. Spywares reside in your PC and spyes your actions. Virus is meant for affecting the normal performance of the PC. I can give a few links that offer free virus and spyware removers...! Norton, AVG , Avast are free antivirus software. Ad-aware, Ewido are free spyware removers. You can download free softwares at
http://fixit.in/antivirus.html and http://fixit.in/spywareremover.html

Answer 5

Spy wares are programs that reside in your PC and watches the performance. It also aims to sell anti spy wares.You can try to select and install a suitable spyware to protect the PC against spyware attacks by visiting the following link..
http://tinyurl.com/ygvyzh

Answer 6

Spyware is a computer software that collects personal information about users without their informed consent.

Answer 7

i ask your self what record you downloaded ? ) do no longer acquire spyware well-being practitioner or the rest.. they infect your laptop then attempt to sell you utility to restoration it. Get a suited antivirus application, replace it and it will do away with the concern. additionally get a pop-up blocker and enhance your internet protection settings.

Answer 8

it protects sometimes. IT delets everything bad on ur pc.