Receive our Top PC Speed Tips
|
|
|
|
|
|
My Speed Online
Risk of Spyware
What is Spyware and its Risk to PC Users
Along with software, hardware, and firmware, technology has bestowed on us another form of software that is now called “Spyware.” As the name suggests, software classified as Spyware, spies on us.
Spyware
Spy software can collect almost all information from your computer. It is possible for spyware to collect personal information scattered across various files on your computer. It can record, and then transmit information about your internet browsing behavior, the types of websites you visit, and how long you spend on each website. Spyware can also be programmed with the aim of identity theft, where enough electronic information about you may be collected, and then collated for someone with malicious intents to impersonate you.
Most spy software utilize stealth techniques and are hidden from your view. You won’t even know that someone or something is spying on you. Spyware can get to your computer through a variety of ways. It could come to your computer as a Trojan, which is a kind of a computer virus, and is normally distributed using e-mails. Trojans can also be distributed directly from malicious websites, from where they are downloaded, when for example: you click on some innocent looking hyperlink.
And then there is Adware, or software that makes revenue by “supposedly” displaying ads on the product interface. You will not have to pay a license fee to download and use such software. While they seem to work just fine, doing exactly what you expect them to do, in the background they may be snooping around, and transmitting information.
Symptoms
There are some symptoms displayed by computers infected with spyware. Keeping an eye out for spyware makes a lot of sense, as protecting your computer from spyware, ultimately means protecting yourself. Computer systems infected by spyware can become slow to respond, take longer to boot-up and generally make you tear your hair out. There are, however, several methods you can use to diagnose your computer.
Using the Task Manager
A cursory look at the Task Manager, will tell you the number of processes that are running. If you understand your computer well, you’ll be able to identify any suspicious processes. A search for the process name on the internet will provide you enough details to determine, whether the process is malicious or not.
The CPU usage is also a good indicator to locate processes.
Hard Disk Drive Activity
For rest of us, who don’t know our computers so well, keeping an eye out for the Hard-disk drive (HDD) indicator lamp is good enough bet. For example, if you have kept your computer idle for a few minutes, ideally HDD activity must stop. A word of caution here: several anti-virus software also exhibit similar HDD activity, so just be sure to eliminate your anti-virus program when you diagnose.
Network Activity
Network indicators show if data is being transferred over the network connection. An undue amount of data being transferred from your computer indicates possible spyware infiltration.
Removing Spyware and taking care
If you suspect that your computer has been compromised by spyware, do not worry. You have help at hand. There are some excellent tools such as SpyBot that remove spyware. Just make sure that you obtain the software from a trusted source.
Once you have cleaned your computer of all spyware there are a few precautions that you can take, and beat spyware.
- Set your browser security settings
- Use ActiveX controls embedded in websites with caution
- Enable your firewall
- Disconnect from the internet if you are not using it
- Obtain and use software from trusted sources only
|
|
