Avoiding Deceptive Software (Spyware and Adware)
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?
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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.
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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 often contain adult content or Web sites you may find objectionable.
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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 freeze or 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 restart 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.
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Spybot - Search & Destroy
Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware from the computer. This software can be downloaded by clicking Start > All Programs > Security and Antivirus > Download Spybot - Search and Destroy. Once downloaded, Spybot must be installed on the ThinkPad by the user.
Spybot – Search & Destroy software is free for personal use, but could not be preloaded in order to comply with the software licensing. This software has been tested and approved to install on the ThinkPad.
To download and install Spybot – Search & Destroy follow these steps:
- Go to Start > All Programs > Security and Antivirus > Download Spybot - Search and Destroy.
- On the Web page that appears, click Download Now.
- When prompted to save the file click Save File.
- When prompted to choose a location for the file navigate to the Desktop folder.
- Click Save.
- If a download window appears, wait until the download completes and close the download window.
- Double-click on the file spybotsd152.exe on the desktop.
- Follow the on-screen instructions and click the default options.
- Select your setup language and click OK.
- Click Next.
- Read and click “I accept the agreement in the License Agreement” window.
- Click Next.
- Leave the default location for install and click Next.
- Leave the default select components and click Next.
- Leave the default Start Menu shortcut and click Next.
- Click Next.
- Click Install.
- Click Finish.
- Spybot will launch. Click OK in the “Legal stuff” window and Spybot will open with the wizard open.
- Click the Create registry backup button. (This will take several minutes.)
- Click Next.
- Click Search for updates.
- Click Download all available updates. (This will take several minutes and cause the program to close and re-open.)
- Delete the file spybotsd152.exe from the desktop.
To update Spybot – Search & Destroy and run a system scan:
- Click the Check for Updates button.
- Click Check for problems. (This scan will take approximately 15 minutes.)
- If problems are found when scan is complete, click the Fix selected problems button.
- Click Yes to remove selected problems.
- Click OK.
- To run scans in the future, double click the Spybot – Search & Destroy icon on the ThinkPad Desktop or go to Start > All Programs > Spybot – Search & Destroy > Spybot – Search & Destroy.
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Ad-Aware
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 downloaded by clicking Start > All Programs > Security and Antivirus >Download Ad-Aware. Once downloaded, Ad-Aware must be installed on the ThinkPad by the user.
Ad-Aware software is free for personal use, but could not be preloaded in order to comply with the software licensing. This software has been tested and approved to install on the ThinkPad.
To download and install Ad-Aware follow these steps:
- Go to Start > All Programs > Security and Antivirus >Download Ad-Aware.
- On the web page that appears, click Download Now.
- When prompted to save the file click Save File.
- When prompted to choose a location for the file navigate to the Desktop folder.
- Click Save.
- If a download window appears, wait until the download completes and close the download window.
- Double-click on the file aaw2008.exe on the desktop.
- Follow the on-screen instructions and click the default options.
- Click Next.
- Read and Click “I accept the license agreement.”
- Type your name in the Full Name field.
- Keep the option to apply this installation to “Anyone who uses this computer.”
- Click Next.
- Keep the option for “Standard installation.”
- Click Next.
- Click Next.
- Click Next and wait for the installation to begin.
- Click Next.
- Click Finish.
- If prompted to download update files, click Yes.
- If prompted to download new software update files, click Yes.
- Click OK.
- Delete the file aaw2008.exe from the desktop.
To update Ad-Aware and run a system scan:
- Open the Ad-Aware program from the Start menu or desktop icon provided.
- On the Status tab, click the Update button to search for update files.
- Download any available updates.
- Click the Scan Now button to scan the ThinkPad.
- Select either Smart Scan, Full Scan, or Custom Scan options.
- Click Scan. (This scan will take approximately 15 minutes.)
- Once the scan is complete, be sure to mark the check boxes by the found items and click the Remove button to remove the infections on both the Critical Objects tab and the Privacy Objects tab.
- To run scans in the future, double click the Ad-Aware 2008 icon on the ThinkPad Desktop or go to Start > All Programs > Lavasoft > Ad-Aware 2008 > Ad-Aware 2008.
Note: you may delete the Ad-Watch 2008 icon from the desktop as this feature only functions with the paid version of Ad-Aware.
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