Aside from those who are battling in reality TV shows, who wants to be watched? Which of us wants to be seen in their most vulnerable and private moments? Who wants to be deprived of his privacy and his freedom to keep things for and to himself? Most importantly, who wants to jeopardize his security by unwittingly broadcasting the things he should be keeping hidden from someone who's watching from afar?
Before you start thinking that we're talking about a psychopathic voyeur who is watching you from the building adjacent to your house, let us explain that we're going to talk about spyware. Yes. Spyware: a program which has become the scourge of Internet users for the past few years.
Spyware is one of those things that was created for a valid purpose, but was ultimately exploited in time. Spyware was originally designed as a tool that would allow you to keep track of the usage of your PC terminal while you're away from the keyboard so that you can defend against unauthorized access to the same. Eventually, it found other borderline uses, like catching a cheating spouse or significant other, prying on your daughter's liaisons, and observing your children's Internet activities from a remote computer.
From pure to gray to black, spyware has now become a rear entrance to high technology security protocols. It does this without hacking any system, but rather, by tricking an user into unknowingly installing the spyware program on his PC. From there, the program would work undetectably, sending key logs, or log files of the keys you have punched on your keyboard, to someone else on a remote terminal. This is why spyware is also called a key logger program.
Eventually, spyware evolved into more harmful forms. Today, you would get invisible scripts sending you to certain websites which you have not chosen to view, or pop-ups that keep opening left and right even if you're viewing a pop-up free website. This has led the Anti-Spyware Coalition, a group of industry giants who are negatively affected by this digital affliction as well, to designate spyware as something that "impairs users control over material changes that affect their user experience, privacy or system security; use of their system resources, including what programs are installed on their computers; or collection, use and distribution of their personal or otherwise sensitive information."
The security risks presented by spyware programs must not be ignored. Imagine taking part in an online transaction whereby you send your credit card details in a secured network, only to stand losing such details once you log off as your key logs would be sent to someone else. Also, personal details can be stolen, resulting into a greater risk for your physical safety.
But it is the violation of your rights that is the largest issue. With spyware, your freedom of choice and to feel safe about your personal effects is removed from of you. This has no place in a civilized society.
Indeed, spyware is a modern day disease that should be restrained. It now comes in a mixture of forms aside from the aforementioned key loggers:
. ADWARE - is an unseen program that sends specific banners for you to see. It may sound innocent, but this program actually forces your PC to send personal information to the mother source so that the latter may know which ads to display. Get a free trial spyware remover here: http://eauthorresources.com/naw.htm
. HIJACKERS - these are programs that take control of your browsers, opening up pages which you do not choose to view.
. MALWARE - these are programs which are not spyware per se, but operate under the same principle. They are determined scripts that don't seem to stop until your data is destroyed. Examples of these programs are Trojans and worm viruses.
There are a lot of free tools on the World Wide Web that would help you to rid your computer of these malicious programs. Sometimes, however, the action of cleaning up results in the loss of valuable files. The maxim "an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure" seems to be the best policy concerning spyware. Always update your anti-virus software, so that spyware may not be allowed to incubate in your hard drive.
Author Resource:
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