Avoiding Deceptive Software (Spyware and Adware)
What is Spyware and Adware?
Spyware is software that collects personal information (including e-mail addresses and passwords) from a computer without the user’s
knowledge or consent. Spyware is often associated with software that displays advertisements, called adware. Advertisers may install adware on a computer with or without the knowledge of the user and then generate a stream of unsolicited advertising that affects your productivity by compromising the performance of the computer.
What is Deceptive Software?
Spyware and unauthorized adware are two examples of deceptive software. Deceptive software includes programs which take over your home page or search page without first getting your permission. Deceptive software often gets on a computer during the installation of another
program you want such as a music or video file-sharing program.
How do I know if I have Deceptive Software on my computer?
- When you start your Internet browser, does it open
to a page you've never seen before? When you select “search,” are you
taken to a page you do not recognize? Some deceptive software will
alter these settings
without your knowledge.
- Do you see a sudden increase in advertisements on
pages where you've never seen them before? Deceptive software sometimes bombards you
with pop-up
ads no matter what page you visit. These ads are often for adult
or other web sites you may find objectionable.
- Does the computer seem sluggish? Deceptive software is not necessarily
designed to be efficient. The resources it uses to track your
activities and deliver advertisements can slow down the computer
and bugs
in the software can make the computer crash.
- Do you see a large number of unknown icons in
the System tray? A long list of icons in the
System tray in the lower right corner of the Windows XP desktop can
be an indicator of adware
or spyware running on a computer. Extra icons in the System tray
indicate programs that are running in the background. These programs
can lengthen the time a computer takes to boot and make it sluggish
to operate.
Discovering and Removing Deceptive Software
If you see new toolbars in Internet Explorer that you did not intentionally
install, if your browser crashes, or if your browser start page has changed
without your knowledge, you probably have spyware. Even if you do
not see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your Web surfing behavior to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. It is important to regularly scan the computer and remove any spyware.
Spybot - Search & Destroy
Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware from the computer. This software is preloaded on the ThinkPad and can found by clicking Start > Security and Antivirus > Spybot—Search and Destroy.
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Ad-Aware SE
Ad-Aware may be used to help safeguard the ThinkPad against malicious
applications by scanning the computer for deceptive software and then removing it. This software can be installed by clicking Start > Security and Antivirus >
Ad-Aware SE. |
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Ad-Aware SE software is free for personal use and could not be preloaded in order to comply with the software licensing. This software has been tested and approved to install on the ThinkPad.
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