Differences between current version and predecessor to the previous major change of SpyWare.
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| Newer page: | version 8 | Last edited on Thursday, September 22, 2005 6:02:02 am | by JoelCox | |
| Older page: | version 4 | Last edited on Tuesday, September 30, 2003 8:24:32 am | by CraigBox | Revert |
@@ -1,27 +1,27 @@
-In general, Spyware
is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On
the [Internet
], Spyware is a program
that is put in someone's computer to secretly gather
information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties
. Spyware can get in a computer
as a
the payload of a [Virus], as the result of installing a new program
, or just simply
by viewing the worng page, or lastly
clicking on any
button provided by
some pop-up advertising
window.%%%
-Data collection programs that are installed with
the user's knowledge are not, properly speaking, Spyware, if the user fully understands what data is being collected and with whom it is being shared
.%%%
+In general, SpyWare
is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge in order to build profiles
. The collecting party is usually of
the advertiser variety. SpyWare usually comes in the form of software included with "
[free
] downloads" from the Web
, where the licence agreement (which most users accept without reading) may mention
that information about your habits will be transmitted back to
the company
. It may however also come
as the payload of a [Virus], or just by clicking on a
button in
some pop-up ad
window. SpyWare is cause for public concern about privacy on
the InterNet
.
-or%%%
+Data collection programs that are installed with the user's knowledge are not, properly speaking, SpyWare, if the user fully understands what data is being collected and with whom it is being shared.
-Software that gathers information about a user as he or she navigates around the Web, it is intended to track surfing habits in order to build marketing profiles. Spyware is often included in "free downloads" from the Web
, where the license agreement (which so many of us accept without reading) may mention that information about your habits
will be transmitted back
to the company
's Web site-but not information specifically about
you. Spyware is cause for public concern about privacy on the Internet
.
+This type of software generally only affects [Windows] systems
, where it
will often lead
to greatly degraded system stability. If you
're running [Linux] or [FreeBSD]
you're probably never going to be bothered by large pop-up purple monkeys or yellow links
.
-This type of software generally only affects
[Windows
] systems; if you
're running
[Linux
] or
[FreeBSD
] you'll never be bothered by
[large purple monkeys|BonziBuddy
] or yellow links
.
+Examples include:
+* !BonzaiBuddy
+* Comet-cursor
+* Gator claims to provide useful utilities for remembering web form details, calendar/date applet, etc but really provides pop-up ads.
+* !HotBar claims to provide an IE toolbar but really provides ads. Use
[Google
]'s
[toolbar | http://toolbar.google.com
] instead.
+* New.net claims to provide new
[TLD
]s like .cool, .cars, .boats etc but really provides (
you guessed it) ads. Instead use common sense -- a reputable company will get a name on the real InterNet.
+* Incredimail makes gratuitive use of [HTML] email to put animated [GIF]s and embedded sound into emails, but it rarely looks the same at the recipient
's end, and the
[EULA] claims to give them the right to anything you write using it, sending messages back to them (via [SMTP
])
.
-Examples
:
+Most such SpyWare can be removed by [Ad-aware | http
://www.lavasoftusa.com] or and [SpyBot - Search&Destroy | http://www.safer-networking.org/], both of which work well and can be updated via InterNet. For best results, use both of them. In some cases the SpyWare will try to remove Ad-aware and/or try to prevent Lavasoft's download site from resolving, so you might have to download it via an uninfected computer.
-* BonziBuddy
-* Gator (claims
to provide: useful utils for remembering web form details, calendar/date applet, etc. Really provides: advertising popups.
-* Comet-cursor
-* !HotBar (claims to provide: IE toolbar. Really provides: ads. Use instead: [Google toolbar|http://toolbar.google.com].)
-* New.net (claims to provide: new [TLD]s like .cool, .cars, .boats etc. Really provides: you guessed it, ads. Use instead: common sense! A reputable company will get a name on the real Internet.)
-* Incredimail. It makes gratuitive use of html email to put animated gifs and embedded sound into emails, but it rarely looks the same at the recipient's end, and the [EULA] claims to give them the right to anything you write using it, sending messages back to them (via [SMTP])
.
+Many other programs claim
to be SpyWare removers are SpyWare themselves
.
-There is also
a category of "real" software that "phones home" in ways that perhaps it shouldn't. RealPlayer and WindowsMediaPlayer are two great examples of this. You can turn it off if you dig through
the config enough. If you use the "pagerank" feature
of Google's toolbar
, it will report every URL you visit back to Google. Officially it's required behaviour for Google to tell you what
the pagerank is; unofficially that's a vast amount of information
and it's not clear what else Google uses it for. Most people trust them, because they have a history of not being evil
.
+Note that most removal tools will detect
a (safely removable) cookie from
the Alexia SpyWare program even on a clean install
of [Windows]
, as [Microsoft] includes
it with
the default install
and updates
it every time you use !WindowsUpdate
.
-BonziBuddy and most other software of this type can be removed by [Ad
-aware|http://www.lavasoftusa.com]. In some cases the Spyware will try to remove Ad
-aware first, and/or prevent lavasoft's download site from resolving so you might have to download it via an uninfected computer. (If this was the case it wouldn't be spyware but a virus)
+----
-A number
of other Spyware-removers are available, however most of these are also Spyware themselves. For best results you are advised to use the following two Spyware-removers [Ad-aware|http://www.lavasoftusa.com], and [SpyBot - search&destroy|http://www.safer-networking.org/]. The reason for using these two are
that they are both updateable over the Internet, and
that one finds programs the other doesn
't and vice versa
.
+There is also a category
of "real" software
that "phones home" in ways
that (perhaps) it shouldn
't.
-Even on a clean install of [Windows] many spyware removal tools will detect a spyware program called Alexia
, which is a web cookie that Microsoft puts in
the default install
, and checks/updates every time you
use windowsupdate. It can be safely destroyed
.
+RealPlayer and WindowsMediaPlayer are notorious for this
, though you can nowadays shut up most of their attempts if you dig through
the configuration deep enough. This wasn't always the case, though
, and even now most users will just
use the defaults, not knowing any better
.
-''Spyware
will make your
[Windows
] installation unstable or destroy it all together. Fun
.''
+If you use the "pagerank" feature of Google
's toolbar, it
will report every URL you visit back to
[Google
]. Officially it
's required behaviour for [Google] to tell you what the pagerank is; unofficially that
's a vast amount of information and it's not clear what else [Google] uses it for. Most people trust them, because they have a history of not being evil.
