Adware, Spyware-Oh My!

Beyond Numbers,  Oct 2003  by Mikusch, Rita

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In the late 1990s, software companies looking to make money on the Internet started adding utilities to their products that displayed ads and/or tracked user information. User information was then resold to other companies.

Many of these utilities qualify as "adware" or "spyware." Here's what these words mean, along with some other definitions:

Adware: Software that displays advertisements to users while they're using the software. The allure of adware? Software manufacturers get revenue from advertising sales instead of from the upfront sale of their products.

Browser hijacker: Software that changes the website your browser is automatically set to without your permission. Some of these programs edit your computer's Windows Registry, which allows them to automatically reload themselves when your computer is restarted. This makes it difficult to reset your browser to its original settings.

Dialers: Software that sits on your computer and uses ActiveX (a type of programming language that only works on the Windows version of Internet Explorer) to dial expensive long-distance numbers over your modem.

Drive-by downloads: The act of sneakily placing software on a user's computer without their permission.

Scumware: A term commonly used for adware that changes the content of websites by linking keywords in the website's text to third-party ads, or overlaying the website's existing ads with third-party ones.

Spyware: Software that sits on your home computer and transmits personal information to a server somewhere on the Internet without your permission. A software manufacturer might get paid by another company to add spyware to its program, or might install its own spyware in order to sell the resulting data and/or use this data for its own purposes. (Many adware programs can also be classified as spyware programs.)

How did that get there?

Many adware and spyware components are packaged with popular free downloads such as music-sharing programs, internet utilities, and games. Disclosure of the fact that these extra components are being installed on your computer is usually buried in a lengthy licence agreement that very few people read because it's so convoluted and boring.

Sometimes, however, a screen will come up during the installation that allows you to decline the installation of adware and spyware components. Unfortunately, many users click past this screen without really reading it.

Adware/spyware removal

Adware and spyware aren't computer viruses and can't be prevented or removed with antivirus programs. Firewalls will block the outgoing messages from adware and spyware components, but you can still have adware and spyware themselves installed and running on your computer. To remove them, you need a removal program specifically designed for this purpose.

A note of warning: It's possible that you'll want to use a program even if it does have adware and spyware components (even actual adware programs can have useful features). In the event that a removal program turfs something you still want to use, most removal programs will give you the option of restoring the adware and spyware components.

A few common removal programs are listed below. Check out their websites to learn what features they offer. Most of these programs will also remove dialers and browser hijackers in addition to adware and spyware. Like antivirus programs, adware and spyware removal programs need to be updated continually.

Disclaimer: I haven't personally used any of following programs myself. These are, however, the programs most often recommended by reviewers:

* Ad-Aware:

www.lavasoft.de

* BPC Spyware and Adware Remover:

www.bulletproofsoft.com

* Spybot Search and Destroy:

www.safer-networking.org

Tip: Some removal programs are better at getting rid of certain types of programs than others, so installing and using two different removal programs is a good idea. You should also run each program more than once-in other words: run the removal program, reboot, then run it again. Sometimes the removal program will find more adware or spyware the second time around.

Revenge of the adware/spyware

The creators of ad-supported software make their money through the adware and spyware components you've just deleted from your computer. With that in mind, some of these ad-supported programs are designed to stop working after you remove their adware/ spyware add-ons. In fact, many adware or spyware programs have a clause in their user licence that makes using the software program without the adware and spyware components illegal. Even worse, one ad-supported program will actually delete any installed copies of the Ad-Aware removal program from your computer!

Adware/spyware prevention

It can be very difficult to keep out adware, spyware, and related programs and still do what you want over the Internet.

The best prevention is to not install any programs you've downloaded from the Internet. If you do decide to install a program, take the time to read the licence agreements and privacy policies to figure out what exactly you're agreeing to when you install the software.