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So, What is Spyware and Adware, and How Do Know You're Infected?

Has your computer been running more slowly recently? Has it been crashing? Do you get pop-up ads for no apparent reason? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may have fallen victim to a malicious type of program called adware or spyware.

"Adware" (or advertising software) is a type of program that delivers ads to your computer screen. These adware programs run in the background whenever your computer is on. This can be annoying because, aside from popping ads up, which may contain offensive images, these programs also tend to slow your computer down drastically and may even make it unusable.

Most adware programs are also "spyware," which is software that spies on you, collecting anything from the addresses of web sites you're visiting, to credit card numbers, passwords, and social security numbers. This information can of course be used for identity theft.

Other programs, known as dialers, will even use your modem to make phone calls to numbers overseas, ringing up literally thousands of dollars in phone bills!

Having spyware on your system is like inviting a stranger into your home and never noticing as he snoops through your drawers, writes down your credit card numbers, and watches your every move.

So Where Does it Come From?

There are several ways these programs can get into your system. In some cases you find a shareware program which, for example, delivers up-to-date weather reports to your computer. You download the program and install it, and while it does give you weather reports, it also watches what websites you visit, and based on the profile it builds about you, it delivers targeted ads to your computer screen.

In other cases, the adware program is a completely separate program that is attached to something you've actually chosen to install.

This is almost universally the case with file-trading programs. File trading programs are programs people use to download free music illegally. It's "free" because it's ad-supported, which means it installs adware before you use it.

I strongly suggest that before downloading software, you should make sure it's legit. A lot of programs that claim to do something fun or entertaining (like give you custom cursors, or have a talking parrot that sits on the screen and talks to you, or bargain finder software, etc.) are often using it as a form of what is called "social engineering" to entice you to download a program, masking their true purpose of collecting information without telling you.

There are sites, such as Versiontracker.com, and Download.com, which list thousands of programs of all types, for Windows, Mac, and others. The nice thing about sites like these, is that the programs can be rated by users, so you get not only a star rating of how much people liked the program, but you can also read people's comments to see if they had any problems because of the software.

Of course, sometimes someone who doesn't know how to spot spyware and adware, might give it a positive review, so it's always a good idea to do a Google search to be sure.

Then there's the times When they Sneak in By Themselves

Many adware programs also get installed just by visiting "seedy" websites (most often adult or gambling sites), because the sites are designed to take advantage of security holes in your web browser, especially Internet Explorer.

A good rule of thumb is if you see an ad or message in a web site pop-up window that wants to install software on your computer, or scan it for problems, don't trust it, especially if it's coming from a site that has nothing to do with computers.

Never agree to download or install anything from a pop-up ad! An examination of a majority of Windows PCs with internet access turns up one or more of these programs hiding in the background.

I would estimate approximately 80% of the Windows machines I've looked at while doing my job have had adware or spyware installed.

As I mentioned in an earlier segment of this article , Symantec's estimates are that over 90% of computers are infected. In most cases, the computer users have absolutely no idea their computer is infected.

Just like with viruses, Macintosh systems are immune to virtually every, if not all, known spyware programs, at least for the time being. Mac owners should still keep listening, since there are likely to be more problems like these for them in the future, although probably nowhere near the numbers on Windows computers.

So how do you clean up the mess?

Fortunately, there are ways to clean up your system if it is infected, and ways to protect yourself from future infections.

There are a number of anti-spyware programs out there, but be warned: many of them are scams which actually install more spyware and adware on your system!

Again, avoid anything advertised in a pop-up ad. To clean up your system and to periodically check for new infections, I recommend using Ad-Aware, and Spybot Search and Destroy on every Windows machine.

Adware and spyware programs can be very hard to remove, but if you run Ad-Aware and then Spybot (not necessarily in that order, but one, and then the other) the two programs working together tend to remove most problems. You should run at least Ad-Aware and Spybot once a week to be safe. There is no single program that detects and removes all pests!

You can get both Ad-Aware (that's spelled A D hyphen A W A R E) and Spybot through download.com, but be careful what you get! There are sponsored links on that site which have names very similar to these programs which are not the ones I'm recommending! And the same thing applies if you do a Google search.

Some supposed anti-spyware programs either ignore many problems, or actually infect your machine further.

Also make sure that you click the "check for updates" option in both programs every time you run them, otherwise they may not recognize new threats.

I see a lot of people using these programs, which is good, but I also see most of them accidentally skipping important steps like the updates for the program, when they run them.

I've even shown them the exact steps, and when I saw them again weeks or months later, it turns out they'd forgotten a critical step, and weren't being protected.

This is why I made a priority of including video tutorials on my easy and safe web and email course, that cover not only how to install both Ad-Aware and Spybot, but also lessons that make it easy to run both programs the right way, so you can protect yourself, and feel safe.

Now, with me, I think there's another thing you can do to help prevent spyware from getting into your computer in the first place.

This critical step for Windows users is to stop using Internet Explorer to view web sites. While IE has fairly recently added a pop-up blocker (a feature other browsers have had for years) it is still a very poorly written and highly flawed program when it comes to security.

Firefox and Opera are two alternatives to IE they both have pop-up blockers and don't have the huge number of security holes IE does. Of the two, I currently recommend Mozilla Firefox, which is a free download from Mozilla.com. When you open the program for the first time after installing it, it will allow you to import all of your favorites and other settings from Internet Explorer, so you won't lose anything.

A small number of web sites, such as the MLS system used by realtors here in Hawaii, only can be viewed with Internet Explorer 6 for Windows (or higher). If you run into one of those types of sites, and you are sure it is a legitimate site, you can view it in Explorer, but steer clear of the program whenever you can possibly avoid it.

Sites that require IE 6 for Windows are fairly rare, but they do exclude most Macs. The exception to this rule, is on the newer Intel-based Macs, you can now run Windows too, so you can get to those small number of sites that ONLY work with IE 6 for Windows.

Of course, whenever you're running Windows on any computer, if it's a Mac or a regular Windows PC, you have to worry about all of the security problems of Windows. Although at least those problems can't affect the "Mac only" parts of your Mac.

if you are a Mac user still running Internet Explorer I do recommend switching to a newer browser This is not for the security reasons, but because the program hasn't been updated in so long that there are a lot of sites it just won't work with.

You can use Firefox, Opera, or Apple's own Safari browser. They are all good browsers, and have pop-up blockers and other security built into them which the Mac version of Internet Explorer doesn't have.

By the way, if you do use Safari, I strongly suggest opening up the program, going to the Safari menu, and doing two things: 1) make sure there is a check next to the "Block pop-up Windows", and 2) click on preferences, and under the General tab, make sure the "Open 'Safe' files after downloading" box is not checked.

Making sure your computer is free of adware and spyware is far too important to overlook. Keep yourself and your privacy safe by doing everything you can to avoid infecting your system, and scan it regularly to catch anything that may have slipped by you.