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What is Spyware ?Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the Internet (where it is sometimes called a spybot or tracking software), spyware is programming that is put in someone's computer to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties. Spyware can get in a computer as a software virus or as the result of installing a new program.
Data collecting programs that are installed with the user's knowledge are not, properly speaking, spyware, if the user fully understands what data is being collected and with whom it is being shared. However, spyware is often installed without the user's consent, as a drive-by download, or as the result of clicking some option in a deceptive pop-up window. Software designed to serve advertising, known as adware, can usually be thought of as spyware as well because it almost invariably includes components for tracking and reporting user information. However, marketing firms object to having their products called "spyware." As a result, McAfee (the Internet security company) and others now refer to such applications as "potentially unwanted programs" (PUP).
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. Spyware is part of an overall public concern about privacy on the Internet.
Many Internet users were introduced to spyware in 1999, when a popular freeware game called "Elf Bowling" came bundled with tracking software.
Protect yourself and your PC from the fastest growing threat to your privacy.There is a very strong chance that your computer is infected with Spyware at this very moment without you knowing it. Your computer could have been infected by spyware during online activities such as: Downloading music, photos, shareware programs, popup ads, via email or by even visiting some websites that use Active X coding to insert Spyware Parasites onto your computer.
Spyware is now considered even more dangerous than Viruses because a Virus can make you lose data, however Spyware not only can result in data corruption, personal profiling, hacker attacks, pop-up ads, spying, but also identity theft.
The Federal Trade Commission reported on Sept 3, 2003 that in the past 5 years alone, there has been over 27.3 Million Identity Theft Victims in the U.S. with over 5 Billion in out of pocket losses.
Spyware can easily bypass your Anti-Virus and Firewall Protection programs by piggybacking on legitimate downloads in order to secretly install on your computer system without your knowledge.
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