Prelude:
We hear the term spyware more than ever these days. We hear the term as much as virus & Trojan. And, the term malware comes up, once in a while. The year 2005 exposed an underlying driver for them. Plain and simple, there is a lot of money involved in making sure your computer ends up with them. They are basically programs. But, they have a purpose. If you are getting pop up ads when you go to web sites, read on. If your email address seems to be getting more and more unwanted emails, read on. If you just want to know what to download and run to clean up your computer, scroll down to (or click), What Do I Need To Do To Clean My Computer?.

What Are They Doing On My Computer?
Someone gets paid when an ad banner pops up on your screen. And, your personal information can be stolen and sold. Your computer won't do this by itself. But, it runs programs. Even ones you don't know about. Spyware, Malware, Viruses and Trojans are all just programs that are delivered in some way over the Internet. There are three basic delivery methods; (1) EMail, (2) Malicious web site, (3) another computer on your network. Let's cover these...
. - EMail - There are two particular email types to beware of. The most effective one is the email with an attachment. The object of the email is to convince the recipient that they need to open the attachment. Even if it looks to come from someone you know, be very wary of why you would get such an email from them. Remember that if you did not anticipate such an email, it is unsolicited. Don't hesitate to ask the sender why they sent it to you. It is possible they didn't. EMail addresses can be spoofed. And, that is whole topic in itself.
. - Malicious Web Site - If you have ever mistyped a web site address and ended up on a site you didn't expect to be on, you could have put your system at risk. Just about any way one can mess up typing a popular email address on the standard QWERTY keyboard has been registered by someone. And, those names will redirect the unfortunate person to a site. Chances are they will have something to do with pornography or gambling. Want to check it out for yourself? Go to this web site and type in any popular web site to see who owns it. Then, try some mistyped version of it to see if someone owns it - http://www.networksolutions.com/whois.
. - Network - Anyone who works in an office with computers, servers and the Internet is familiar with a network environment. An they have undoubtedly experienced at least one situation where a virus got loose on the network and compromised every workstation and server on it. Anyone who has broadband (DSL or Cable) is also connected to network. And, a neighbor with a compromised computer can be putting your computer at risk. Using a wireless network card to connect in any establishment (coffee shop, airport, etc.) puts that computer on a network with computers that could be trying to compromise any computer on that network.

As of the end of 2005, almost 100% of computers at risk of being compromised were running Microsoft Windows. And, the majority of those that were compromised were either not updated with the latest Windows updates/patches or just not properly secured. This isn't a Microsoft bashing comment. Being the operating system the majority of computers currently run, they are a big target for hackers. To find a security breach in Windows yields a large user base.
. At the end of November 2005, Apple released a security update that rivaled a typical Microsoft security issue. Read about it here - Security Update 2005-009. Apple has had few issues with viruses and security breaches to its operating systems, to date. This trend may be changing.

Spyware, Malware, Viruses, Worms, Trojans... What's The Difference?
. - Malware - Any software/program that is harmful/disruptive to a computer operating system.
. - Spyware - Any software/Program that specifically gathers information from a computer in a stealthy way (without user consent or knowledge).
. - Virus - Any software/program that stealthily installs itself (without user consent or knowledge), self-replicates, and is capable of spreading itself to other computers (similar to the way biological viruses spread). Viruses can also disable other operating system code, software/programs that may be able to detect or prevent them from installing and running.
. - Worm - Any software/program that stealthily installs itself (without user consent or knowledge), self-replicates, and is capable of spreading itself to other computers (similar to the way biological viruses spread) over a network. Worms can install themselves into other executable code, such as EXE, COM and even documents. They can also disable other operating system code, software/programs that may be able to detect of prevent them from installing and running.
. - Trojan - Any software/program that purports to be one type of program that may be desired by the user, but delivers an unwanted and destructive payload (named from the Trojan Horse of Troy). They often deliver other malware that may have a specific date to activate, often called Zombie programs. Typically they destroy user data (possibly the entire drive image). They may target specific sites on the Internet attempting to crash them from thousands of infected computers accessing them at the same time (referred to as Denial of Service (DoS) attacks). They can also be used to install viruses and spyware.

All of these definitions make clear points. First, they overlap enough to make it difficult to discriminate between them to some degree. No matter what the definition of the code/software/program, they all define something that gets installed and run on a computer that the user did not intend to run, or possibly even was not aware of. The result of their running is unintended. It could mean the dissemination of user information/data and/or its loss or destruction, or the unwanted use of the computer to cause unintended consequences to another computer on the Internet or network.

Can I Tell If Any Of These Are Installed On My System?
For the most part, it is difficult to tell, until the infections get really bad. Older computers with older versions of Windows, slower processors and less RAM will be the easiest to tell. This is because the extra running applications/code will take up processor and RAM resources, further slowing them down. And, older versions of Windows will become more unstable, tending to lock up and crash more often.

Can I Stop This From Happening?
Realistically, no. But, practicing safe computer habits can virtually eliminate the majority of issues. Here are some points:
- Be careful typing those web site addresses. If it is a frequently visited site, add it to your bookmarks or favorites. Then, click on the link to get to it.
- Scrutinize those emails. Any unexpected message, or one that seems out of character for the sender should be treated as potentially risky. Any email from a stranger should be off limits.
- Keep current with the operating system updates. These days, those updates are typically to patch a vulnerability that can be exploited.
- Install and maintain an antivirus program. Keep current on the Antivirus library updates, as well as the program patches.
- Load antispyware programs and keep them updated. Run them frequently. Unlike antivirus programs, running more than one is not only OK, but necessary. This is covered in the next section.
- A hardware router on any computer or network is highly recommended to isolate the Internet from it. For travelers, a 3rd party software firewall is necessary to help protect a computer from any public network/Internet connection.

What Do I Need To Do To Clean My Computer?
The Internet and computer networking is an important part of most business and home environments, today. It isn't reasonable to ask anyone to keep their computer off of the Internet or a network. So, the above safe habits need to be practiced. Most people are aware of antivirus programs. But, they also need to be aware of antispyware programs. And, free ones are both available and highly affective. No one program will find all, or even most, of the current spyware. Each company will find certain ones. And, they typically don't share their findings. I suggest running these three to keep your system as clean as possible...

. Microsoft Defender (click for home page)
For XP users, this program has the advantage of being automatic. It runs in real time, and let's you know when a couple of weeks have passed since the last system scan.
. Spybot Search & Destroy (click for home page)
This will run on almost any Windows platform. It offers a URL blocking list, to reduce the risk of accidentally going to a bad web site. It is manually run and updated. Although affective, it requires a good deal of user interaction to maintain and run.
. AdAware SE (click for home page)
Ad-Aware SE a free program similar to Spybot. And, it requires the same attention. But, its creator, Lava Soft, also sells commercial versions with automatic features.
. Spyware Blaster (click for home page)
Java-Cool Software created and maintains this application. It is basically a list of known bad websites. It needs to be updated, periodically, as well. Once properly updated, this program will keep your browser (Internet Explorer & Firefox) from being directed to these sites. It is free and updates similar to Spybot. So, it requires the same attention.

Running the above cleanup software, and antivirus software will help keep your system as clean and free of malware as reasonably possible. It is also very time consuming, and can take hours to run. It can be costly to the user to have a technician sit around doing this. If you are capable of downloading, installing and running these programs, you can save a lot of money doing this yourself. If a problem still exists that these tools can't resolve, then call the technician out.

WARNING!!! -- XP Users Read...
If your system is not currently running Service Pack 2 (SP2), make sure your system is free of all malware. Backing up your data files is also recommended. Unrecoverable system crashes are not uncommon on operating systems infected with malware. If this happens, you may be left having to reinstall your operating system, from scratch.
WARNING!!! -- XP Users Read...