Spyware - The Snooper's Toolkit

Spyware is surreptitious software that gathers private information from your computer without your consent or knowledge and transmits the data it collects to someone else, silently in the background, using your internet connection.

Spyware can collect almost all types of data, including internet surfing habits, user logins, as well as bank and credit card information, along with your PINs, using key-loggers to record every stroke of your fingers. It can scan files on your hard drive, snoop on other applications (such as chat programs or word processors), install further spyware programs, and read cookies, relaying the information it gathers back to its author.

Spyware can also change the default home page on your browser or redirect your browser to web pages other than the ones you want. Some spyware can even change computer settings.

It is usually difficult to detect and is nearly always malicious in intent. Indeed recent surveys suggest that more than 60 percent of computers are infected with some form of spyware, and that more than 90 percent of users found to have spyware in their computers are not aware of it.

What are the dangers?

By monitoring your activity on the internet, spyware enables targeted advertising. In other words, it providers advertisers with the data they need to bombard you with ads based on your perceived preferences according to your internet activity. In this case, it is known as adware.

The result of tracking your behaviour in this way is a plethora of unsolicited pop-up ads. These can be really annoying, though hardly dangerous.

More seriously, because spyware is using memory and system resources as it runs in the background to gather and send information back to its home base via your internet connection, it can lead to system instability or crashes.

It can also have a negative effect on your computer's performance by installing additional software, redirecting web browser searches, changing computer settings, reducing connection speeds, changing the homepage or even completely disrupting network connection ability.

You can cope with all these problems. The real danger is the very strong possibility of financial fraud using your bank account and credit card details that, along with the related PINs, spyware collects when you engage in internet banking.

How does spyware get into your computer?

Spyware is usually installed when you download some free software or shareware you actually want... the spyware piggybacks on the installation. One of the commonest ways to become a victim of spyware is by downloading some of the peer-to-peer file swapping products that are available today.

The writers of spyware programs often simply repackage freeware and bundle it with their own spyware. Others may pay shareware developers to bundle their spyware with legitimate software.

Indeed, the licensing agreements that accompany software downloads sometimes warn the user that a spyware program will be installed along with the desired applications. Unfortunately, few people read these agreements before clicking I agree or Yes. But even if you read these agreements closely, you will notice that the reference to the spyware is usually couched in obtuse, hard-to-read legal disclaimers.

What can you do to prevent spyware getting in?

There are several ways you can try to prevent your computer from being infected with spyware:

• Don't download free programs or applications unless you are absolutely sure that they are OK. Think: why would anyone create a piece of valuable software and give it away free of charge?
• Read licensing agreements carefully and if they are couched in obscure legalese, forget about it.
• Be ultra-careful when using peer-to-peer file swapping.
• Undertake regular maintenance of your system.
• Ensure you anti-virus software is updated regularly and that it checks incoming software before it is installed.

But no matter how careful you are, you are bound to join the 60 percent plus of users who are the victims of spyware in some form or other.

How do you get rid of spyware?

Getting rid of spyware is more art than science as many writers of spyware make removing these malicious programs purposely difficult. Some of the code may be hidden from Windows.

But with a few free tools, plenty of time, some know-how and a bit of luck you can do it. First the tools... four free tools you can download online:

• Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool... available free of charge from microsoft.com
• Microsoft's Windows Defender... available free of charge from microsoft.com
• SuperAntiSpyware... available as free edition and professional (paid) edition from superantispyware.com. The free edition does a decent job of removing spyware or viruses.
• Your anti-virus program... (You do have an anti-virus program installed, don't you?)

Note that some spyware can prevent you from downloading these tools or even from visiting the Microsoft website. If this happens, download the applications to another computer, copy the installers to a USB drive, plug that drive into your computer and install from the USB.

Spyware usually manifests itself as slower-than-normal performance. But poor performance can be due to other (unrelated) reasons, such as having a hard drive that has not been fragmented for some time or is full, running too many applications with insufficient system memory, or bugs in a program that prevent memory being freed up when you close it. Check these factors out first before deciding that you have spyware.

Then, follow these four steps:

[1] Run the Malicious Software Removal Tool first... making sure that you have downloaded the latest version before running it. Though this tool only searches for a small fraction of all the malware you can pick up, the ones it finds are the most serious threats. If this tool does not find anything, go on to the next step.

[2] Use Windows Defender, after first making sure you have the latest updates, to perform a full scan. If the program finds malware, follow the on-screen instructions to get rid of it. You may need to reboot your computer as some spyware does not let you uninstall it while Windows is running. If this tool also comes up empty, do step 3.

[3] Go to www.superantispyware.com and download and install the free edition of the software. Once the software is installed, click on scan your computer. The scan will take several minutes depending on HDD space and then remove any threats that have been found.

If Super Antispyware cannot find the problem, go on to the next step.

[4] Run a full scan using your anti-virus program. This will take several hours, perhaps overnight. The program should deal with any suspect files automatically.

It is unlikely that one of these three programs will not solve your spyware problem. However if that is the case then you have picked up new type of spyware that has not yet been included in the anti-spyware databases. Now you need to check every process running on your computer to see if any of them is spyware. This can be quite a daunting task.

Though there are tools that can help you by showing you everything that is running on your PC, enabling you to decide whether a particular program is legitimate or not, running them requires a certain amount of expertise. Caution: you should be aware that if you perform certain removal steps improperly, your computer could become inoperable. Thus it would be best to seek expert help.

Alternatively you could go nuclear... this entails backing up all your data onto external media, formatting your hard disk and then reinstalling your operating system using the DVD that came with the computer when it was new. You will then have to reinstall all the applications you have as well as all your data files. This will probably take hours, perhaps a whole day to re-install everything. But you'll end up with a super-clean machine that's as fast as the day you bought it.

Using online expertise

Removing spyware seems a scary task if you have never worked on your computer before. If you don't feel up to removing it yourself you will need outside help from expert technicians.

One solution is to bring your computer down to a computer repair shop or get a technician to visit your home or office. This can be expensive, probably costing at least €100.

A less costly solution, which is just as reliable, is to contact an online maintenance and repair service. The service will, with your permission, open a secure connection into your computer from a remote location and take care of your spyware problem while you watch the process on your screen or do something else. Expect to pay about €25 at the most for this kind of service.

A bonus with the online solution is that the technician who handles your problem will have a supervisor and plenty of back-up experts to hand for additional advice. Repair shops normally only have one or, at the most, two technicians on the premises.

Differences Between Computer Viruses, Malware, Spyware, and Worms

To help avoid computer viruses, it's essential that you keep your computer current with the latest updates and antivirus tools, stay informed about recent threats, run your computer as a standard user (not as administrator), and that you follow a few basic rules when you surf the Internet, download files, and open attachments. Because new viruses are arriving every day, it is critical to keep your virus definitions up-to-date. Be sure to enable the scanning software's automatic-update feature and have it do so every day.

Make sure you use a fire wall. A firewall is a piece of software or hardware that sits between your computer and the network and only allows certain types of data to cross. For example, a firewall may allow checking email and browsing the web, but disallow things like Windows file sharing

With most things just a little information can help you protect yourself. What are the differences between Computer Virus, Worm, Malware, Adware, Trojan and Spyware?

• Virus is a program to cause damage to computer. Computer viruses also spread through downloads on the Internet. They can be hidden in illicit software or other files or programs you might download. Once a virus is on your computer, its type or the method it used to get there is not as important as removing it and preventing further infection. Viruses can be disguised as attachments of funny images, greeting cards, or audio and video files.


• A Worm is a program which infects the computers which are connected by some network. Worms slow down the network.


• Mal-ware is a program with malicious intention. It can be damaging your computer, spying on you or any other malicious task.


• Adware is a program which delivers ads to your computer (generally in POP-UP form). They consume your network.


• Trojan is a program which is used to gain access to a computer by installing a program on infected PC to open some backdoor. [Trojans are also known as Back-doors].


• Spyware is a program used to monitor/Log the activity performed on a computer. This is used to spy on someone either for legal or illegal purpose. Example: Key-logger applications.

Here are some indicators that your computer may be infected:

1. Your computer has become unstable. Does your computer seem to run slower than before?

2. Strange messages indicating that you can't access certain drives on your computer are another sign that something is wrong.

3. If you notice that file sizes are fluctuating even if you aren't accessing those files, that's another sign of a computer virus.

4. If your homepage has changed on its own

5. Other indicators include hardware (like printers) that don't respond to commands. While none of these guarantee the presence of a virus, they do suggest that something is wrong with your machine.