Adware and spyware are harmful programs that can infect computers while downloading free applications. Adware displays pop-up ads and links, while spyware tracks a user’s actions, including keystrokes, and can lead to fraud and identity theft. Anti-spyware programs can eliminate these programs, and identifying marks include repetitive pop-up ads for adware and subtle changes to the browser for spyware.
Adware and spyware are two new concepts that have developed along with the popularization of the internet. While usually not as harmful as viruses, adware and spyware can still be quite harmful and make trying to surf the Internet a nightmare. Understanding the differences between adware and spyware can help identify computers that have been infected with these programs.
Adware is generally considered to be a less harmful form of advertising found on the Internet. Often, downloading free programs, such as games, results in a simultaneous download of adware. Adware consists of pop-up ads and links that try to direct you to a different website. Manufacturers of free Internet applications, known as freeware, often use adware as a way to offset costs without charging customers for downloads.
Adware and spyware are easily confused, thanks to the nefarious practice of creating programs that look like adware, but act like spyware. Instead of just throwing mildly annoying ads, spyware is able to track a computer user’s actions. This isn’t limited to browser usage, although it can certainly log the websites you visit. Spyware can track your keystrokes, allowing it to store passwords, account information, and even credit card numbers.
In the best case scenario, spyware can simply use this information to create targeted ads for you to use. Unfortunately, many spyware can do much worse and is a path to fraud and identity theft. Spyware places itself on your hard drive and may not show up in traditional virus scans, since it’s not technically a virus. Fortunately, there are many anti-spyware programs that can hunt down these nasty programs and completely eliminate them from your system.
There are some marks left by adware and spyware programs that can help identify these invasive tools. Adware will mostly consist of pop-up advertisements that start when a specific program is opened, such as a downloaded game. Advertisements are often from a select group of sponsors and therefore may repeat on a regular basis.
Spyware, by contrast, is often more subtle in its invasiveness. If a home page changes, links constantly redirect to a different website, or new toolbars appear on the browser, it could be spyware. Spyware programs that track keystrokes can also fool themselves by producing a series of announcements related to something the user said in a chat, non-Internet document, or email. If a person has sent a chat message to her mother asking for a recipe for tuna and is suddenly inundated with ads related to fish, there is a good chance that spyware is on the loose.
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