| Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a
person or organization without their knowledge.
Spyware
secretly gathers information about the user and then sends it to advertisers
or other interested parties in the background of an open Internet connection.
Spyware can get into a computer's hard drive as a software virus, by clicking on a banner
ad or installing a new program off the 'Net.
Spyware which displays some kind of advertising while the
program is running is called
Adware.
These applications can include additional code that delivers the ads, which
can show up as pop-up windows, banner ads, or may even add unwanted plug-ins
to your web browser. Browser hijacking Spyware can reset your
browser's home page, add links to your bookmarks, or add "yellow
highlighter" advertising links into every web site you visit.
Even if
you discover your computer has a Spyware application running in the background,
it can be hard to remove it. Often the program leaves
behind code that is missed by the standard add/remove function of your operating
system; allowing it to re-install itself later.
Thankfully
there is software that can detect and remove most kinds of adware; some of
them are free and can be found from the sites below:
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