Spyware is not something to be taken lightly. Every year millions of dollars are just washed down the drain by companies and individuals fighting this menace. Spyware, apart from being a nuisance, can also inflict damage on you by keeping track of browsing history and steal your credit card information. It is thus highly prudent to be aware of the enemy. Here are some of the most potent spywares and their traits courtesy FaceTime Security Labs.
The first among the many enemies is Gator. Gator is used to store the password of a site for retrieving it while visiting that particular site. You end up paying for this service by enduring frustrating pop-ups. There have been some efforts by Claria, who created Gator, to alter it for a more user friendly version but the problem hasn?t been solved as yet.
CoolWebSearch is second on the list and it has earned the reputation of being the most irksome program that has many variants. It directs the user to CoolWebSearch.com or Datanotary.com by manipulating the browser. It?s extremely tricky to uninstall and users must never try it manually.
180SearchAssistant is another one of those pranksters that is bent on offering you pop ups of sites resembling your search keyword. Emoticons and wallpaper come as addition gift wraps along with this software. Newer version, however, offer some respite with their add/remove program and uninstall features.
Huntbar can be as frustrating as they get. Huntbar has a modus operandi by which it creates its own toolbar on the internet explorer. Using any other search engine proves futile too as it will keep directing the user to its own page. Furthermore, it ends up changing the home page as well as the search engine setting, which leads the users to their server every time they use the search engine. And to add insult to injury, it drains the memory by 15%.
5. Cydoor ? When you get a P2P, that is , peer to peer software, you may also get Cydoor along. This software also pops up number of advertisements with great annoying effect. It will also track usage information from your machine.
ISTbar latches on to your data through ActiveX and javascript installations. It transmits your personal browsing history to sites like my-internet.info and Blazefind.com, thus compromising your computer security.
Various features of WhenU-DesktopBar includes ad pop ups, tracking of browsing history and an ability to run codes from a far off server using only update settings. Searches may end up in special offers and coupons being flashed on the monitor.
8. New.Net ? Non-Standard top level domains are sold by the company called New.Net. As this is a highly annoying software, it should be removed instantaneously.
IEplugin is harmful to your privacy to say the least. It installs a tool bar onto the browser and tracks all the activities on the internet.
And finally we have BargainBuddy. This notorious spyware, distributed by BullzEye Network, would plant Helper Object on the browser to spy on the user’s history and data. It would familiarize itself with your popular keywords and then blast you with advertisments linked to those key searches. So the main strategy used by these spywares is to infiltrate your system, spy on your net history, grab personal data and use it to flood you with dead end advertisements and unwanted frills which cause more trouble. Now you know the enemy, just knock them out or better still, keep them out.
Susan Reynolds is the webmaster for a leading Spyware And Adware Removal Software brand. For more information visit: http://www.spywareremovaldoc.com
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Fri, May 7, 2010
Spyware