untangling_the_web

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Make Sure You Are Not Inadvertently Running "Spyware"
Spyware is often distinguished from "adware," that is, advertising supported
software, which was designed to help shareware authors make money. There are a
few examples of "good" adware, software that you can get for free if you are willing
to put up with sponsored ads each time you use it. Good adware explicitly asks
you if you are willing to accept the ads in exchange for the program and also
promises not to share or sell any information it collects about your browsing habits.
Spyware, on the other hand, rarely asks for your permission to do what it was
created to do. An exception would be something like the Google Toolbar, which
offers an option to turn off data collection and, even if it is enabled, does not share
its tracking data with anyone else. Spyware by definition contains some sort of
tracking software that regularly tries to "phone home" via your Internet connection to
report data about your browsing habits, virtually never with your explicit permission .
Most spyware then sells your personal information or, worse, exploits it to attack
you. To make matters worse, it is now so hard to detect spyware that even the most
sophisticated users often do not realize they have been infected. 203
Here are several ways to avoid spyware: do not download shareware or freeware,
such as Kazaa, Quickclick, WebHancer, CuteFTP, etc. However, most people are
going to download software at some point. If you do, try to make sure it doesn't
include spyware by visiting a website that lists known spyware, such as those listed
below. Be aware, however, that more and more spyware is not actively installed by
users but is downloaded, installed, and run on computers using nefarious techniques
such as drive-by downloads, which exploit browser features such as ActiveX.
There is software available to check your system on a regular basis for spyware.
Sadly, not all such software does what it claims; instead, there are unscrupulous
people who are offering "spyware detection" software that is itself spyware. Do not
download any antispyware software without checking it out beforehand. There is
even a website devoted to finding and exposing bogus antispyware products.
Spyware Warrior Roque/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products maintains a long and
growing list of these untrustworthy products.
While you can buy good antispyware software, some of the best is available for free.
Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition and Spybot Search & Destroy are excellent free
utilities that detect and remove spyware. Microsoft offers its own free antispyware
203 Leslie Walker, "Theft You Don't Even See," Washington Post, 1 September 2005,
(14
November 2006) .
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