About Spyware

What You Need To Know About Spyware
– by David Matthews 2

Of all of the things that annoy Internet users, the big three are Spam emails, viruses, and spyware. Of those three things, the most insidious is spyware.

You don’t have to be an expert to know when you’ve been infested with Spam emails. Most viruses can be contained with some common-sense applications and good software. But most people have absolutely no idea that their computers are infested with spyware. Some computer users will even have dozens, if not hundreds, of spyware programs running on their computer, and they would never even know it until something specifically happens to affect their use of that computer.

What is Spyware?

Spyware is essentially a program that is installed on your computer that gets information about you, the web sites you visit, the words that you search for online, and any other kind of data that can be used for information-collecting or advertising purposes.

"Spyware" goes by several names. The most common is "Adware", because the most common use of these programs is for advertising. "Spyware" is often used to describe those programs used to collect the information on your computer. But since "Spyware" has a negative connotation to it, some companies that use such programs are eager to sue anyone who dubs their software as such. (The more annoying of these companies have demanded that such programs be henceforth referred to as "Valueware".) The more malicious of such programs are referred to as "Malware". These are programs that basically operate like destructive viruses, causing havoc on infected computers. The best examples of "Malware" have to be the "mouse-trapping" websites, where programs would be used to disable your mouse or to prevent you from closing certain pop-up windows. Or if one window would close, five more would appear.

The whole purpose of Spyware is to collect information about you and your computer, and to shove advertising culled from that information in your face. Companies pay big bucks to get advertisers to shove their wares in front of your face, and they don’t care how it gets shoved in front of you.

For the most part, it comes in the form of pop-up advertising. You may have pop-up blocking software running, but for some reason you still get pop-ups. Sometimes you may get pop-up windows for no reason, even when you’re not connected to the Internet. When that happens, you know that Spyware is involved. Advertising may also appear at the bottom of certain function windows. For instance, you go to print a document, and when the print window appears, the window extends to ask you if you need to buy some more ink. Or if you try to save a document, the "Save As" window expands to ask if you want a new hard drive or need some more floppy disks. These are all visible examples of Spyware in action.

Sometimes Spyware will even overlay ads on top of other ads on a website. Or you may get ads from companies that compete against the website you visit. For instance you may visit the website of a certain brand name cola, and instantly you get a pop-up ad from the competing brand. That’s Spyware in action. No name-brand company would ever allow their website to display an ad to their competition.

Why is Spyware so notorious?

Three reasons. First, because Spyware is often installed without your knowledge. Most Spyware programs are bundled in the installation program of another file. For instance, you hear about this really neat screensaver program, so you download it from a website. It has a self-installing program, which you have to run in order for it to work on your computer. Bundled in with that program is the Spyware program, and it also gets installed without so much as an introduction, much less your permission.

However, if you ask the Spyware companies, they will tell you that YOU DID give your permission for any and all Spyware programs to be installed on your computer. Then they’ll point you to some obscure piece of legalese in the Terms of Service agreement for the screensaver program, which says in a roundabout way that if you agree to install the screensaver, then you also agree to have Spyware installed on your computer. Yes, it’s deceptive. Yes, it’s devious. Yes it’s unethical. Yes, the people behind this stuff should be flogged and keelhauled, but it’s also quite legal.

Sometimes, though, a Spyware program may be automatically installed just by VISITING a certain website. Well, you know, if the webmaster feels that he has a right to put data cookies in your computer, then he should also have a right to put in any other kind of program on your computer… especially if that program will generate money for him.

Some computers even have Spyware pre-installed! It’s on your computer even before you take it out of the box.

The second reason why Spyware is notorious is that it self-regenerates. It comes back to haunt you, even if you use the Add/Remove Programs feature in Windows or one supplied by the program itself. Not only are some Spyware programs scattered all over your computer and all over your Registry files, but if even one portion of the program is intact, it is instructed to go back to the website and download and reinstall the rest of the program. Next thing you know, the Spyware program is back like Freddy Kruger, ready to resume the nightmare. And it is hard to remove every aspect of Spyware by yourself. One such instruction to remove every line and every hint of a certain popular Spyware program is over forty pages in length! (And yes, you DO have to remove every single piece in order to be free of these things!)

The third reason is that Spyware isn’t just relegated to some obscure porn websites and file-sharing groups. These things show up on so-called "mainstream" websites, including those run by major corporations. The list of companies that have engaged in partnerships with those that develop and distribute Spyware programs reads like the who’s who in Fortune Magazine. These are major players with dibs on as many computers as they can get their cyber-mitts on.

Why is Spyware bad for your computer?

At best, Spyware is an annoyance. Pop-up windows showing up when you don’t want them to… extra windows being generated to push advertising when you don’t want them to… Pop-up windows automatically opening even when your computer is off-line can be embarrassing, especially when they’re for pornographic websites and it’s on a workplace computer.

At worst, Spyware invades your privacy. It collects sensitive information about you and your online habits. It can track your keystrokes, grab passwords, bank accounts, email addresses and anything else it wants to, without your permission, and sends this information to other people to use at their discretion, again without your permission.

Plus, Spyware can bog down your system, wasting system resources and online bandwidth grabbing needless advertising to shove in your face. And because most of it operates without your knowledge or permission, you don’t even realize why your top-of-the-line system is suddenly slowing down.

What can you do if you think you have Spyware on your computer?

First, mutter some well-needed colorful remarks at the advertisers and programmers who burden us needlessly with their trash. It won’t fix the problem, but it will vent some frustration.

Next, get some programs to scan your hard drive and completely remove the spyware. And I do mean "programs" in the PLURAL sense.

There are two FREE programs available that will do the job quite well. The first one is Ad-Aware, and it was developed by a company called LavaSoft. The other one is called Spybot Search & Destroy, and it was created by Patrick Kolla. Both of these programs will thoroughly search your hard drive for Spyware, tracking cookie files, and even vulnerabilities in your Windows registry. You can find both of these programs through any search engine by searching under the name of the program.

Now unlike anti-virus programs, you shouldn’t just pick one Spyware-hunting program or the other. In fact, it’s advisable to have both programs on your computer, because some Spyware programs are designed to evade any one of the most common Spyware-detecting programs. So to have two or more systems will increase the odds that you will find whatever elusive program is hiding in your computer. (Just don’t have the multiple programs running at the same time, because that will really bog your system down.)

Yes, there are a plethora of other programs out there that you can buy that will do just as good a job or better. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to make the investment. Obviously someone running a business will want to make sure they have ample protection in a way that some of these other programs will provide. But for the average home-user, Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy are the best way.

There are some companies that will also claim to scan your computer online and make the necessary fixes for a nominal fee. I’d be somewhat skeptical of those. It’s way too easy for some fly-by-night company to offer such a program, tell you there’s something wrong with your computer, and then pretend to fix it, and either do nothing, or worse yet scan your computer, copy your important information, and actually install Spyware.

Check with your Internet provider. Some providers offer free Spyware-detecting software in addition to virus protection and pop-up blocking software.

Speaking of virus protection, some of the major virus protection companies like McAfee have included Spyware-detection as part of their regular service. They properly recognize Spyware as being a threat to the computer.

But whatever group of programs that you use to check your system, make sure to use them regularly. Just like viruses, Spyware programs change and new ones are developed, so make sure that you get the latest updates for your detection programs. Ideally, you’ll want to set aside a block of time when you know that you aren’t going to use the computer and then run your detection programs.

Also, if you’re surfing the Internet and suddenly you see a "Terms of Service" window open, say NO to whatever it is immediately. That’s Spyware trying to get installed. Get yourself offline, start up those Spyware-hunters, and start scanning your hard drive.

If you do come across a website that tries to stick you with Spyware and you don’t want to part with the website itself, there is a way to block the Spyware from being installed while still visiting the website. You can add the website’s address to the "Restricted Sites" list in your Windows Explorer Internet Options, which will block all automatic downloads and ActiveX components on that site from running on your browser.

The other thing is that if you come across the program or website that you know is spreading Spyware, make sure you warn other people about it. If you found the program through a service like Download.com which offer user reviews, use that to warn people about the Spyware. Believe me, you’ll be doing other users a huge favor by getting the word out on these things.

Spyware: Not a good trade-off!

The companies that use and include Spyware in their programs claim that what they are doing is providing a convenience for computer users. They believe that allowing others to snoop into your computer so they can force-feed you advertising is a fair trade-off for providing free programs. Of course if they were so confident of that belief, then they wouldn’t be sneaking the Spyware programs into our computers. They’d tell us up-front that this is the condition for having their "free" programs on our computers. They wouldn’t hide this inside weasel legal language that most people won’t see, much less understand. But then again, it wouldn’t really be a "free" program, would it?

The important thing for people to understand is that they now have one more thing to look out for online besides viruses and email scams. And while the various bodies of government are weighing possible new laws and regulations to try to reign this stuff in, online users will just have to be wary of these things from now on, not even being able to completely trust mainstream websites. A near impossible but very necessary task to perform, from a medium that once prided itself on blind trust.

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David Matthews 2 is a freelance writer living in the greater Atlanta area. He is a longtime computer user and has been involved with computers since the 1980’s.

This article can be distributed freely provided that it is unaltered and all proper credit is given to the author.

2005 – Get Brutal Productions