12 November 2008

Spyware

How To Avoid Spyware
by: Arvind Singh



Spyware can install itself into your system when you clicked some link to a program, opened spam email, clicked on certain popup windows or if you were downloading some free utilities, toolbars or games. Protect yourself with antispyware software. And check to see if your security settings are too low, change the settings to default level or higher, and keep a check on what you download.

Spyware is so invasive that Antispyware programs rank high on everyone's list of favorites when it comes to keeping the computer healthy and running. While no one's safe from spyware, there are some things you can do to avoid spyware, in addition to having antispyware solutions installed.

The most irritating thing about spyware is how it got into your system in the first place, not to mention how long it's been there or what it is doing. What could have triggered its existence in your system? What is even more annoying is the fact that you probably got tricked into clicking a link to some program for it to get installed in your system! Maybe you opened spam email - sometimes that's all it takes.

If you click on certain popup windows or if you were downloading some free utilities, toolbars or games, there's a pretty good chance it sneaked in that way, unless you had antispyware solutions installed in your system. The most likely source are those file sharing programs that are rife with spyware. And if you happened to browse through a corrupt website, it is no mystery at all as to how the spyware came in. Some legitimate software applications come bundled with the spyware.

Be Careful About Those Freebies

The Internet is full of free software that tempts you and when you succumb to it, comes integrated with spyware. If you are not protected by antispyware software, this spyware will relay all your browsing habits to spurious advertisers. Even your sensitive personal data can be revealed. How do you prevent this from happening? The first step is obviously to install antispyware software.

Exercising Caution

Beware when you surf the Internet. Check to see if your security settings are too low. If your system is not protected with antispyware software, this low security setting is a fine entry point for tracking cookies and spyware programs so that they can lodge themselves in your system. So, first change the settings to default level or higher, preferably, and keep a track of what you download. Update your operating system regularly. And keep your antispyware application also up to date with new definitions. Your antispyware solution will detect, then quarantine and delete spyware that happens to enter your system by chance.

Watch your email! If you don't recognize the sender, don't open the email or click anything in it. Only open email or download programs from sites you trust. Nothing comes free. Check around the online forums about which software comes bundled with spyware. It is easy to get feedback off the Internet about spyware and which antispyware is best to combat it.

About The Author
Arvind Singh is admin and technical expert associated with development of computer security and performance enhancing software like Registry Cleaner, Window Cleaner, Anti Spam Filter etc. More information can be found at http://www.pcmantra.com

To know about the Registry Cleaner visit at: http://www.pcmantra.com/registry-cleaner.htm

Know more about Registry Cleaner?
Read Articles at : http://www.pcmantra.com/RegistryCleanerResource.aspx



Effects Of Spyware On The Computer
by: Arvind Singh



Spyware has a lot of side effects of the registry. One of the greatest drawbacks is the slowing down of the system. This process will continue until the registry is cleaned with a registry cleaner.

If you have browsed the Internet for a substantial number of hours it is guaranteed that you have downloaded some sort of Spyware to your system, albeit inadvertently. That is the reason it is called Spyware. If it made itself known it would not be spying. Spyware is not illegal software. It is downloaded with the 'permission' of the user. Once the Spyware downloads and installs itself it begins, first of all, to consolidate itself on the machine. It does this by entering its information in multiple parts of the registry. These entries can only be removed with Spyware removal utilities and there are many free anti Spyware and Adware removal tools available to do a satisfactory job for you.

Effects On The Registry

A lot of add-on Internet Explorer tool bars are also Spyware. They constantly monitor the users browsing habits and the type of software that is installed and run on the computer. At times this may be helpful to the user as the relevant advertisements are directed to the browser. However, in the long run this Spyware will definitely slow down the system to a crawl. This malicious software must be removed from the system as soon as possible with free Adware and Spyware removal tools. Spyware is constantly making entries to the registry. This makes the registry grow out of proportion. Since the system has to refer to the registry multiple times in a session, the registry has to be scanned from the beginning every time. Considering that the registry has tens of thousands of records it may take a very long time to scan and locate the information being sought. Spyware keeps adding junk to the registry and this slows the system down.

Removal Technique

Spyware can be removed from the Computer with the use of anti-Spyware utilities. However, these utilities will only uninstall the Spyware from the operating system. The anti-Spyware utilities are not designed to go in to the registry hives and make changes. Going into the registry and removing the entries is very specialized operations and cannot be clubbed with some other software or program. Removing the Spyware entries from the registry is very important. Because once the Spyware determines that the exe file has been removed it will kick in from the registry and reinstall the exe from the Internet site it came from initially. Therefore removing the entries with a registry cleaner is very important. Free Microsoft Spyware removal tools and PC registry Cleaner are good software that can remove all redundant and bad entries from the system registry.

Qualities Of A Good Registry Cleaner

A good free Spyware removal utility will have three facilities such as a registry backup function a restore function and a scan and repair function. It is important that the spyware cleaner make a good backup of the registry just in case the system fails to function properly after the computer clean up.

About The Author
Arvind Singh is admin and technical expert associated with development of computer security and performance enhancing software like Registry Cleaner, Window Cleaner, Anti Spam Filter etc. More information can be found at http://www.pcmantra.com

To know about the Registry Cleaner visit at: http://www.pcmantra.com/registry-cleaner.htm

Know more about Registry Cleaner?
Read Articles at : http://www.pcmantra.com/RegistryCleanerResource.aspx



Facts You Should Know About Spyware
by: Arvind Singh



Every PC user must control and arrest spyware through antispyware and adware removal tools. Spyware comes in various forms and the most commonly found is the illegally installed spyware. It is used to secretly get information in unethical ways, which is why good antispyware software needs to be used against it.

Spyware Avatars

As software that picks up information from your computer without your consent, Spyware assumes many forms. It can be Trojans, web bugs, adware and commercial software that are used to keep an eye over someone's computer to track what they are doing or to illegally get their secret information like passwords to bank accounts etc. Trojan software gets into your system by duping you into thinking it is something else, just like viruses. Web bugs come as ActiveX controls and cookies that just follow you around as you browse the web. Once they know your habits, they show you popups with advertisements they think you might be interested in. This sort of software or remote administration software can be stopped by firewalls.

The commercial computer monitoring spyware software includes URL recorders, key loggers, chat and screen recorders, program loggers etc. and antispyware can guard you from this. The key loggers just track all your keystrokes, which means just about everything you do on your computer. Then you have those screen loggers that can just take a picture of your screen, in spite of you having firewalls installed.

Can Cleaning Your Registry Or Deleting Your Startup Items Help?

The problem with spyware and adware is that they run as hidden files so they don't show up on the task list, the registry, or the startup items. They lodge themselves where startup cleaners cannot find them and they run invisibly. But good antispyware software or adware cleaner can find them and eliminate them.

The seriousness of running antispyware cannot be emphasized enough

About The Author
Arvind Singh is admin and technical expert associated with development of computer security and performance enhancing software like Registry Cleaner, Window Cleaner, Anti Spam Filter etc. More information can be found at http://www.pcmantra.com

To know about the Registry Cleaner visit at: http://www.pcmantra.com/registry-cleaner.htm

Know more about Registry Cleaner?
Read Articles at : http://www.pcmantra.com/RegistryCleanerResource.aspx




Scan The System For Spyware - Frequently
by: Arvind Singh



Spyware installs itself on the system and runs in the background. This slows the system down a great deal. Spyware also makes entries in the registry files. This must be removed with spyware removal programs.

By frequently adding and removing software and hardware from the system may make the system more and more sluggish over time. The system may become slow to the point of being annoying. Yet when the system was new it ran perfectly. There are many answers to why this happens. The system may be infected with viruses that are filling up the resources by replicating themselves or there may be Spyware operating in the background. These Spyware can wreck havoc with the system time by delaying the response of the processor to the programs that are running in front. One other possible reason could be that the registry has gotten full of obsolete entries and references that installing programs and hardware make in the registry. These entries are not removed when the programs or hardware are uninstalled. This has to be done manually or with any free Spyware removal tool made for the very purpose.

Use Software, Do Not Delve Into The Registry Manually

It is incorrect to assume that by uninstalling software from the system all the entries in the system pertaining to the software are removed. Nothing can be further from the truth. Many traces or entries of the uninstalled software or Spyware may be left behind in the system registry, either intentionally or unintentionally. These obsolete entries or references in the registry clutter up the system to such an extent that the system may crash and cause tremendous loss of data. A wake up call is the system slowing down and acting erratically. On such signs you should get some free anti-Spyware removal tool in addition to the anti virus software and scan the system for Spyware that may have installed itself on your system. Many anti virus packs come with software but it you do not have any it may do a world of good to get some anti-Spyware. After running the free anti-Spyware removal tool run the registry cleaner any free registry cleaner to remove all instances form the system registry.

Manual cleaning of the registry is very complicated as well as dangerous because if a wrong file is deleted the system may shut down and not boot up again unless the Operating System is reinstalled. It is for this reason that registry cleaners are designed. They do a great job in a few seconds and leave the system running more efficiently and fast. If your system has been running sluggishly lately. Run a registry cleaner after the anti-Spyware and it will surely be a pleasure to work on the system again.

About The Author
Arvind Singh is admin and technical expert associated with development of computer security and performance enhancing software like Registry Cleaner, Window Cleaner, Anti Spam Filter etc. More information can be found at http://www.pcmantra.com

To know about the Registry Cleaner visit at: http://www.pcmantra.com/registry-cleaner.htm

Know more about Registry Cleaner?
Read Articles at : http://www.pcmantra.com/RegistryCleanerResource.aspx



Free Spyware Removal Software - Why Use It?
by: Raymond Johansen



I guess most of us have been bothered with spyware infections once or more. Nobody likes that their computer become slow because of them, and nobody likes to pay a huge pile of cash just to get rid of them either. In this article I write about a great spyware removal tool that is free. What you get for zero bucks could sometimes actually be a whole lot.

When people get infections into their home computer, many are not aware of the existence of such threats. They just keep on working with their slow running computers until they stop almost completely. Some ask friends or relatives with a little computer experience to take a look at their computer. Therefore I will try to explain the importance of having protection, and how to get something that works.

Through the two latest decades we have seen computers eventually come into our lives, and that we use them more and more, and integrate them to become more or less a necessity in our homes. But, when internet was made public in 1990 we also began to see more and more of all the problems that came along with it.

An experience that I've had often is, when a system was near a breakdown, the problems was very often caused by a massive infection of online threats. Today we know them as spyware, adware, worms, trojan horses or viruses. They crawl up your cables and into your system, and when they become many they start competing with eachother for the available resources.

This will cause the computer to slow down, and when it eventually comes to a complete stop, the number of nfections will be too high for the computer to handle. All the power you need to do your stuff will be unavailable. An overrun system is of no real value to the user, because there are virtually no resources left to run real programs. This computer system has also become a real danger to privacy.

A good security tool could get rid of these bugs. I recommend that you have three basic types of security software installed on your system. Number one is a firewall protection. This will help prevent hackers from breaking into your system. Number two is a good antivirus solution. This keeps viruses, worms, trojan horses and often other types of threats away. Number three is to have a good spyware removal tool, because these threats are the most common ones today. They spread between computers like wildfire. Some of them are even made to steal your private information.

A quality piece of security software would protect you from various types of threats. But no software will make your system total immune, and a combination of different pieces of quality software is always preferred.

No matter what, it is always better to atleast have somekind of protection software installed, rather than nothing at all. So you might need to look for some you too. A good place to do this is online. This is because you simply get the fastest delivery and the best prices. But you have to look carefully for it.

I need to alert you about a new type of threats that is spreading around the world these days. A bug slips into your system, and almost instantly pops up with a warning about a "system error" from something called "Security Center" or similar. You should pay attention to this kind.

They infect you in the first place, then they want you to purchase a remedy for their disease and other types of infections. But most of them don't get rid of anything but the warnings, and even slips more bugs into your computer. Sneaky don't you think?

There are alot of software and solutions to choose from. Some are expensive, some are cheap, some are good and some are worse. They vary as much quality as they vary in price, and the most expensive ones are not by far always the best ones.

Infact there are actually spyware removal software packages that will protect against several categories of threats, and it will even clean up your computer's registry. This feature alone is a good way to increase the computers speed. I know about a really great tool that will do all this for you, and even for free.

This package does unfornately not include a firewall protection, but if you are running Windows XP there is a good firewall included in this operating-system. Just go to the control panel, and then to the Windows security center to activate it. It works great, and you should definately turn it on if you have it in the first place. This firewall in combination with the totally free spyware removal tool we provide on our website, you'll suddenly have a nice protection.

If you see the point of being protected for free rather than not protected, I have met my goal. Take care, and secure your computer properly. More information about this great free tool is to be found at our website.


About The Author
Raymond Johansen is the CEO/Founder of FreePcAssistance.com - A website dedicated to online security. Visit our website if you want to download a free spyware removal tool. http://www.freepcassistance.com/free-spyware-removal.php