Everything you ever wanted
to know about Spyware
What is Spyware?
What can I do about all of my pop-ups?
What does it cost?
How do I install and use Spybot or Ad-aware?
What if this doesn't solve the problem?
What is Spyware?
Spyware is software installed on a computer
without your knowledge. It gathers information about you
for retrieval later by who ever control’s the spyware.
Spyware is installed alongside other software or via activex
controls on the internet, often without the user's knowledge
or without full disclosure that it will be used for gathering
personal information and/or showing the user ads. Advertising
spyware logs information about the user, possibly including
credit card numbers, social seccurity numbers, passwords,
email addresses, web browsing history, online buying habits,
the computer's hardware and software configuration, the
name, age, sex, etc. of the user.
As with spam, advertising spyware uses the CPU, RAM, and
resources of the user's computer, making the user pay for
the costs associated with operating it. It then makes use
of the user's bandwidth to connect to the internet and
upload whatever personal information it has gathered. It
also often downloads advertisements to present to the user,
either by way of pop up windows, or with the ad banners
of ad-supported software. All of this can be considered
theft in the cases of advertising spyware that installs
without disclosure. In this process, spyware usually brings
your computer to a halt or severely slows it down, so you
will not be able to run any programs or you will run programs
at very slow rate.
( adapted from www.spywareinfo.com)
What can I do about all of my pop-ups?
There are many things that you can do about spyware if
you suspect it to be on your computer. Depending on your
experience and knowledge of the computer here are some
options:
- You can download spyware removal software and run it
on your computer to complete the removal yourself. Two
excellent programs are AdAware and Spybot
Search and Destroy. They can be downloaded for free
from their prospective sites. Check out our documentation on installation and use.
- The
other option to removing spyware is to call the Academic
Computing Help
Desk at 928-523-9294. A staff member will
either assist you through the process or schedule you an
appointment to have someone assist you in your dorm room
What does it cost?
Here is something you don't see much. It is completely
FREE! The programs and even the technical support from NAU
both come to you completely at no charge.
How do I install and use Spybot or Ad-aware?
How do I install and use Spybot? Click
Here
How do I install and use Ad-Aware? Click
Here
What if this doesn't solve the problem?
You might have a virus. Check out ResNet
Virus webpage to help you through this solution.
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