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Why should you be
Concerned About Spyware over Adware?
Spyware was introduced as a way for advertisers to get consumer
information as it pertains to computer users and be able to target
ad campaigns based on the subject’s computer habits. Spyware can
also consume all of a computer’s resources such as processor and
memory while it uses the internet connection to transmit
statistics and other information to another server. Spyware also
makes promises to protect your anonymity yet it still makes one
suspicious and many times does just the opposite. Adware, while
annoying, is not quite as serious and its intent is only for
transmitting advertisements in a targeted marketing campaign.
But everyone knows that a personal computer (PC) functions similar
to a server and will transmit information to interested third
parties given consent or no consent from the user. There is always
somewhat of a chance or risk that any kind of information to
include information that should be secure can get transferred to
an interested third party with or without the user’s permission.
In essence many of these advertisers are getting information from
you that they would have to pay for otherwise if it were not for
spyware.
Like spyware, adware gets installed on a user’s computer without
his or her permission. But adware is used mostly to display popup
ads and nothing more. Spyware is much more serious in that it
affects a computer by slowing it down, throwing out numerous popup
ads, and invading the user’s privacy. Plus, some spyware can even
become mail servers on your computer and distribute spam email.
Spyware and adware are used many times to help software companies
offset the cost of software development. This is why they will
allow adware and spyware to be placed in the products they offer
as shareware or freeware. The plus for the software companies is
that their product can get marketed plus they can enjoy some of
the revenue from users clicking on the ads.
Spyware can also present itself as a helpful piece of software
when actually it is doing more harm than help at all. Take for
instance the BonziBuddy. This was designed and communicated to be
a help agent much like Microsoft’s office assistant. It was
supposed to help you and assist you in using a computer and the
internet. The problem was that it was also collecting personal
information about users and transmitting it to its sponsors.
BonziBuddy was recently ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to
pay $75,000 in fines because it transmitted private information of
computer users under the age of 13 (source: Wikipedia, BonziBuddy,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonzi_Buddy, retrieved 14 November
2007).
Adware typically does not go to the levels that spyware does. It
is usually only for displaying those annoying ads. And Spyware is
very deceptive because of the following:
Its intent is to only invade and infect computers for commercial
gains.
It will very quietly study where you go on the internet and send
that collection of information back to the advertising host.
It can create annoying pop-up advertisements.
It can steal your credit card and other identifying numbers by
recording the keys you press to enter them when doing online
shopping or bill paying.
It can sometimes get around anti-virus software and firewalls.
So indicative of spyware is when your computer begins to slow down
for no apparent reason and stay slow. And since anti-virus
software does not typically detect spyware, it doesn’t alert the
user right away. So the spyware could affect a computer’s
productivity for quite some time until the user figures out what
is going on and runs anti-spyware software to fix the problem.
Article Source:
http://www.spywaretool.com |
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