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By conservative estimates, 9/10 computers
that connect to the internet are infected with spyware. Tthis
includes people who are diligent about running their anti-spyware
2-3 times a week. Scary, isn't it?
But what harm can spyware do, you ask?
Spyware
slows your machine down - when you are infected
with spyware, your computer starts getting slower and
slower. Since the spyware runs in the background and
goes out to various sites, it consumes your memory and
hard disk resources.
Spyware
eats your bandwidth for breakfast - seconds after
you start your computer, spyware starts hitting you with
popups and starts communicating with remote machines (not
in your home/office) across the world. So, since these
bugs are pushing information to those servers and pulling
information from those servers - net result? Your internet
gets slower.
Spyware
can fish up your personal information - some particularly
nasty bugs can log your keystrokes and report that to
the mother ship. So, potentially private information is
not private anymore! This could include credit card information,
passwords and other damaging stuff. As spyware gets more
sophisticated, this has become a real and present
danger!
But
how do they get past your firewall and antivirus? Well,
you don't need to invite them in, in most cases. Some scripts
(geek speak for the bugs) infect vulnerable websites and
their webmasters haven't a clue. You go to this website
to look up some information, and before you know it, a
tiny piece of information is dumped on your machine, only
to go out to the mother ship and download the actual nasty
spyware.
But
I run updated Antivirus Software (Trend Micro/Norton)
and I have a firewall, so I am protected right?
Wrong! You
are still very vulnerable. Because, these bugs come in through
your browser (internet traffic) and your firewall and your
Antivirus sometimes cannot always stop them, especially,
if you inadvertently click 'I Accept' to install. When you
allow and install, you are signaling to your protection
software (antvirus) that
the software is legitimate and you want it on your machine.
Stay
Vigilant. It's
the best defense.
In the end, the
best advice is to be vigilant. Whenever you see a message
from your browser, make you read the message and
don't click anything until you fully understand what you
are doing, and you trust the source.
Also, run the
right anti virus and anti-spy and you should enjoy your
computer a whole lot better. Who knows, you might actually
meet deadlines on time.
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