Let's talk a little bit about adware/spyware and what it is exactly, and what it does, basically adware is software that has advertisement programmed or built in to the software itself. It can be advertisement for just about anything you can think of, there are no limits when comes to adware.
When infected your computer will display advertisement in full windows or pop-ups, and sometimes you don't even have to have a browser running. According John Leyden of the Registry "Consumers are now on the main target of malicious hackers intent on enriching themselves through the misery of others."
If you are not running any kind of adware/spyware removal on your computer you are exposing you self to infection that can damage you pc to the hardware level!
Spyware is any software built and designed to monitor online activity and store and record and then forward that information to a third party. Some large corporations may have it installed on employee's computers to monitor internet traffic some parents install it on the children's computers to keep track of there internet usage and activity.
This type of spyware works covertly meaning there almost no way to detect whether or not it is installed on a computer unless you were the one that installed it. It is not visible in the add remove programs list (Windows XP--Start--> settings-->Control Panel-->Click on Add Remove Programs.
Spyware can be used to collect e-mail address for spammers or collect credit information and passwords for secure site such as banks. Spyware invades your privacy and uses your computer and bandwidth to do it. It uses vital computer memory and storage and steal resources away form your computer that would normally be used to run your applications and programs.
Although adware/spyware is deceptive and does work and the background where it is not visible there are ways that you can detect weather or not your computer is infected. When you are not using your computer for email or surfing the web the network interface on your computers modem is still active, if you notice large amounts of activity through the blinky lights on your modem there is a good chance that there is a large amount of internet activity going on, when this happens it may be a sign of spyware or a type of dialer that has been installed on your computer.
However be aware that Microsoft will regularly send security updates to your computer if you have automatic updates enabled, there fore be alert and do not always assume that large amounts of interactivity is spyware or unwanted software. If you use a dialup modem to connect to the internet your a bit safer in the sense that you have to log into your ISP (Internet Service Provider) to connect to the internet.
However once your logged in that unwanted software can detect internet connectivity and start downloading advertisings or even start making international phone calls, so watch your phone bill. Have you ever noticed an extra button on Internet Explorer that was there yesterday? And when you try and change change your IE back to default (Windows XP While IE is open--->Tools--->Internet Options--->click on Advanced Tab think click reset) it doesn't change?
This is a good clue that you may be infected. How about new tool bars suddenly appearing and no matter what you try to do on the view menu you can't change it or remove it. This is also a good sign of adware or spyware. Items added to your favorites list and you know for sure you did not add those items, and when your delete them they come back when your restart your browser. Your computer is slow and sluggish and running noticeable slower. These are all signs of potential infection.
