What is Spyware? A general term for a computer program that gathers data and reports the findings back to an advertiser or internet marketing firm. Spyware is a way for freeware software authors to make money from the software, rather than selling it to the users for a fee. Spyware is often bundled with file sharing applications for the past 3 years and continue to be included in most freeware p2p applications. However there is a growing list of file sharing companies who boast no Spyware in their software. The internet has seen a spike in the amount of Spyware programs included into free software. Several high profile file sharing companies offer a paid ($3.00 – $15.00) version that contains no additional software. Purchasing a paid version of the software is a great way to support the development of new software from the company, most Spyware supported programs lack the functionality of the paid versions. How does Spyware make its way to my computer?
Some computer users claim that the only way to permanently remove Spyware from your computer is to reformat the hard drive(s) when all else fails and you can’t get rid of the software. We don’t suggest you do this immediately after reading this article if you have a problem, but you should always take this into consideration if you cannot rid your computer of annoying Spyware programs.
What is Adware? |
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