SpyWare, AdWare and Popups

SpyWare and AdWare programs monitor your web browsing and offer you extra advertising often in the form of 'Popups'. These devious programs get onto your PC through unscrupulous shareware programs and websites.

SpyWare, AdWare and Pop-ups are related but not the same. Popups are the result of SpyWare or AdWare. To access a program that gets rid of these menaces, go to the Anti-SpyWare Programs Section.

SpyWare
Spyware is any software that works deviously behind a user's back to collect and transmit data about your habits. It may download itself on to your computer, gathering information on you and transmit it across the Internet, downloading files or running programs on your computer, messing with your system settings, or even trying to silently pass itself on to others.

Like a spy in real life, SpyWare may disguise itself and its intentions. It will try not to be noticed. It may persist in the background even after you tell it to go away. It might even try to hide from you if it knows you're looking for it!

Spyware may do one, more or all of the following:

• collect information from your computer without your knowledge and/or consent.
• transmit a unique code to identify you (for tracking purposes) without your knowledge and/or consent.
  
• collect/transmit information about your computer use or other habits without your knowledge and/or consent.
  
• install itself on your computer without your knowledge and/or consent.
  
• keep reinstalling itself, no matter how many times you remove it.
  
• perform other unwholesome duties without your knowledge and/or consent.
  

Fortunately now that these activities have been identified as 'wrong', the programs that do this have been identified and anti-spyware programs written that will remove them.

Adware
AdWare or 'Advertising-supported software', if done properly, is a unique and viable business model in which software developers can make money without requiring the end-user to pay for the software. However, the key words in the last sentence are 'if done properly', which is often not the case. While it may come as no surprise that adware uses your Net connection to download ads, you would have good reason to be concerned about the large amounts of data flowing in the other direction. Several adware applications have been known to secretly snoop around areas of your computer they don't belong, including your browser history.

Pop-ups

Pop-ups are ads that pop-up in you web browser long after you have left the website that originated them. They come in different forms: a window that appears suddenly which can easily be closed, a window that appears that spawns another window when it is closed, windows that appear as you start your browser or when you shut it down.

Stopping Pop-ups
There are three approaches to stopping popups:

• removing the AdWare or SpyWare programs that cause the pop-ups.
  
• using a browser that can be configured to prevent pop-ups.
  
• installing an anti-popup program.
  

Of the three methods, the first gets rid of the root cause of popups, which may be the wisest root as the popups maybe caused by a SpyWare program that does other things besides showing you popup ads, the second is quick and effective but may leave behind unwelcome spyware, while the third is not recommended, as much of the shareware anti-popup software seem to be riddled with adware or spyware.

Recommended Popup Stoppers

• google toolbar - put out by the google search engine
• popup stopper - put out by panicware, be sure to download the free version.

Browser Hijacks
A variety of popup is the 'browser hijack'. If your browser starts on an unknown webpage which offers you goods to by or offers to search the web for you, your browser has been 'hijacked' by Spyware and you will need to run an anti-spyware to remove the hijack code.

Anti-SpyWare Programs
Below is a list of free anti-spyware programs:

SpyBot - Search and Destroy
SpyBot - Search and Destroy is another free anti-SpyWare program and it is available from: SpyBot Home Page.

Configuring SpyBot S&D To Update
As with AntiVirus software SpyBot S&D needs to be kept up-to-date. To ensure that the update feature works on campus, the web-cache address needs to be entered manually. This what you do:

start SpyBot S&D in advanced mode.
click on the 'Settings' button then click on 'Settings' sub option (yes - again).
scroll down to see the 'Web Update' group of options.
look at the bottom of the list for 'Use Proxy' option.
click on the checkbox - see 'Proxy Setting' dialog popup.
against 'Host' enter: wwwcache.lancs.ac.uk
against 'port' enter: 8080
click OK
close down SpyBot S&D and the restart it.
Updating SpyBot S&D
Update at least one per month. Old version:

click on the 'Online' button.
click on 'Search for Updates
follow instructions
New versions:

click on 'Search for Updates' button.
follow instructions
Searching For SpyWare
To search for Spyware:

run SpyBot S&D
click on 'Check for problems - see program search for threats.
wait...
click 'Fix Selected Problems' options.

To work effectively both these programs need to be updated occasionally and rerun on your computer from time to time.