PC Security Doctor

Selecting an antispyware/antivirus software to protect your computer is sometimes a challenging task. There are many programs out there that claim to do the job and also many programs that are actually fakes that just want to infect your PC.

Here are a few points to look for when choosing an anti-virus/anti-spyware protection solution.

1. Does it have awards from respected industry websites and magazines? Awards from peers are important as they are knowledgeable and independent reviewers
2. Is it continuously kept up to date with new virus and spyware removal definitions? Smaller companies tend to struggle with this.
3. Does it have a trial version that you can download and test on your PC before buying? This is important so you can check that it will install and run correctly.
4. Is the software created by a large company or backed by a large company? Bigger companies have been around for longer and have more trust in the industry.
5. Do they have good support options? Getting help via the internet, forums, email and the phone is essential if you have an issue with your anti-spyware software
6. Do you have to pay for a license? You can get some decent things for free but often paying $49 or so for a yearly license will get you a much better product.
7. Is it easy to use? Easy installation, quick scanning and automatic updates help you to keep your computer safe without fuss

Look at some of our anti-spyware reviews to get an idea of the best ones.

Adware and spyware threats are constantly changing. It is essential that companies keep a watchdog eye on spyware, adware and malicious software. Otherwise loss could occur in terms of sensitive data relating to corporate information, employee performance and server downtime.  It also involves bandwidth that is wasted as well as future loss of business from angry customers and legal liabilities.

Spyware is an application that takes over a user’s connection to the network in the background without their knowledge or prior approval.  This is done to gather or transmit information on various users to profit from this information.  One of the biggest problems with such a spyware is that varieties of programs have the capability of accumulating personal information such as user logins as well as passwords, various websites visits and their username by searching for the addresses used to connect to important websites.

Spyware is capable of secretly recording personal information through many techniques such as recording keystrokes of logins and saving the history of your web browsing.  If you have any worries about spyware then the process of scanning your hard drive using a good antispyware solution is essential for eliminating malicious adware and spyware.  The dangers can be troubles such as theft of identity that may end up in litigation, fines for non-compliance of regulations that decide various needs relating to rectifying bad publicity.  All these problems can come to an end if you meticulously clean your computer systems and do not suffer from malicious software.

Basically, adware and spyware are malicious programs that can be prevented and removed by using anti-spyware software that protect you from the contamination of advertisements and degradation of your computers performance.

The users of the Internet today face a huge threat and lots of risk is involved just browsing the web because there are so many spyware and adware programs that could attack your PC from the web. Whenever you visit any new page or open a new website link, you are not sure whether the site is authentic or if it’s a trap to hack or steal your important information. As web surfers we like to click on catchy and flashy links with promising rewards but be careful as such interesting links can lead towards a crash of your computer.

Today the threat of Spyware programs is creating lot of headache to the cyber world with some hundreds of new threats being introduced monthly on the Internet in the last few years. The damage caused can be major. There are some seriously dangerous spyware programs that attack computer systems and can lead to database hacking or paralysing the normal functions of the computer that may require costly repair work or formatting of the entire system. There are huge chances of loosing all the important data stored in the system.

Most of the Spyware threats have their own way of getting installed and a particular effect on your PC. One such program that is known is the Cool Web Search program. It is a small program, which attacks or takes control of Microsoft Internet Explorer. This spy ware program directs a lot of your browsing to websites that have advertisements including directing the home page to cool websearch.com. The characteristics of this spy ware program are shown in the form of Pop-up ads depending on the websites you visit. Changing the infected computer’s hosts file and redirecting error pages are some of the features of this particular spy ware program.

Active X security holes lead to installation of several spyware problems. Keep your system up to date and remember, installation of one-spy ware program leads to installation of another.

If you are careful while browsing and remember to use a quality antispyware solution, then surely you can protect your system and your valuable information from being attacked by external programs. You should always ensure that your PC and data is protected. The loss of your data or information cannot be retrieved once it is lost.

Spyware is one of the most dangerous threats for all Internet users. It is hard to detect and infection can be very costly, in terms of time and money. Every PC user is at risk if they are not using anti-spyware software. On a global scale, this problem affects almost everyone, and thus the development of the anti-spyware industry. These anti spyware software products remove or disable existing spyware on your computer.

New spyware threats are appearing every day, but some are more dangerous than others. A few of most dangerous spyware threats are described here.

Vundo, also known as the Vundo Trojan, Virtumonde, Virtumondo and MS Juan is a Trojan horse that will show popups and advertising on your computer. It often advertises fake antispyware software, prompting you to pay for a license with your credit card. Sometimes it can cause your PC to slow down and websites to stop working correctly.

PurityScan works by displaying pop-up advertisements on your computer when you are online and it encourages you to install it by claiming to find and delete pornographic images. It does do what is says in a basic way but it also installs “OIN client software” which will make ads appear on your desktop.

N-CASE is another spyware, which is basically an adware program delivering targeted pop-up advertisements to web page and then to your computer. It contains freeware applications.

Contraviro is another fake anti-spyware program that uses false “security alerts” and scan results to make you think that your computer is infected with spyware, adware and viruses. It seems that this rogue software was created by the same people who created Unvirex, another rogue spyware remover.

Perfect Keylogger is a monitoring instrument recording all visited web sites, keystrokes and mouse clicks. So all your secret information like passwords, account numbers is collected bythem.

CoolWebSearch hijacks your web searches, home page, and the Internet explorer settings, there have many changes in this spyware which uses HTML applications or security flaws and then invade your computer.

Transponder is an IE Browser Helper Object that monitors the web pages you are visiting and data entered into online forms and then delivers targeted advertisements.

ISTbar/AUpdate is a toolbar used for searching pornographic web sites and displays pornographic pop-ups and hijacks the home page and Internet searches.

KeenValue is a dangerous spyware that collects personal information and delivers advertisements to your computer.

Bargain Buddy sends targeted pop-up advertisements to the computer based on key words that you enter while surfing the Web. It also takes control of the error pages and redirects them to its own webserver.

Gator is an adware program that will show banner advertisements based on the habits of your web surfing. It is packaged with many free software programs, like the popular file-sharing program Kazaa.

Spyware generates data regarding the habits of Internet users and are sold to spammers and are misused. So be careful about these spyware and protect yourself using a good antispyware solution.

The moment you see Pop-Up Advertisement on your web browser, you need to be very careful. These pop-ups can be an entry point for spyware. Ads that say things like “Viruses detected on your PC. Click to install anti-virus automatically” can be fake messages designed to get you to install spyware or adware.

Another type of pop-up ad, appearing when you are not even using the internet are a sign of adware installed on your computer. These pop-up ads on your desktop appear randomly and are hard to understand where they come from.

The site you visit will indicate whether the pop-up is a spyware or adware. Many major sites have many pop-ups, but these pop-ups are genuine. Newspaper sites like New York Times, Washington Post and others use pop-up ads to advertise. However, if you are visiting sites like hacking or pornography sites and pop-ups ads appear on your desktop, this could be spyware or adware.

If you are fond of browsing and want to buy thing online, it becomes necessary for you browse as many sites as possible to do a thorough search for the product you want. Even after you have closed those web sites you may find advertisement of products. This can be due to spyware or adware.

The pop-up ads which seems to be suspicious are the ones that appear even you’re offline.  Many pop-up ads open when you visit a web site and if the web site is legitimate then the advertiser is also legitimate as well as well-known. If the advertisement doesn’t seem to match the content then it could be an adware or spyware parasite.

Pop-up ads that are hazardous for your computer are designed to look like legitimate advertisements. If the contents of the advertisement seem strange, or if you are getting pop-up ads when you are not even surfing the Internet, then it is in all probability is adware.

Some other symptoms include:

• If your computer behaves unexpectedly or
• your CD drives open and shut randomly or
• programs open and close unexpectedly or
• your hard drive is continually make a working noise even when you aren’t using the computer or
• software or programs do not start when you expect them to start or
• there is an unknown icon in your desktop or
• some parts of programs do not work properly or
• the settings in your web browser change or
• when you start your computer the internet browser opens to display web site advertisements.

All these may be signs that you have an infected computer. It is recommended to run an anti-spyware scan immediately.

The most common threat for modern computer users is adware and spyware. As soon we sign into the Internet and open a browser, we are in danger from adware and spyware programs. Adware and spyware are hostile software like viruses that affect the programs on your computer. They can slow the performance of your computer. More recently adware and spyware programs are designed to watch what you are doing on your computer and the internet and can steal your personal information.

Adware makes flashing and annoying advertisements come out on top of your browser window when you visit certain websites. The adware advertisements use words, phrases or pictures that get your attention and make you want to click the link it provides so they can earn money from their advertising. Some of the ads are more dangerous and can trick you into giving away personal information.

Spyware gets its name by spying on your personal information like usernames, passwords, email addresses and other files in order to send them into third party computer. The third-party user can use this information to show you unwanted ads, or send email which usually ends up in the spam section of your email accounts.

Newer types of spyware are nuisances for computer users because they not only slow down your computer but also threaten the privacy of your computer through infiltration and pirating of your private information and files. These malicious softwares are generally downloaded accidentally and installed in the computer without you knowing. Many are secretly attached to another program that will be installed in the computer by installing the main program. This secret program that is the source of spyware and adware is used to the collect information to send unwanted advertisements. Generally adware make money through advertisements and spyware makes money through the unauthorized use of your personal information.

Sometimes adware and spyware software is installed in the computer and you can uninstall it by simply clicking un-install through the Add/Remove Programs icon of the control panel. This only applies to the more legitimate types of adware, the illegal types will be very difficult to remove and you will require anti-spyware software like Spyware Doctor.

In recent times adware and spyware have become great nuisances to computer users. They not only disturb your computer usage, but also trespass on the boundaries of privacy and slow down computer speed. So be a step ahead of adware and spyware and save your computer and personal information from spyware by using anti-spyware and anti-virus software.

We have reviewed anti-spyware software to give you a guide to the best anti-spyware programs available. Click here to read the review

Spyware is often difficult to remove

This software is installed in the background and wants to live on your computer without you knowing about it. It does not like to be removed easily and the authors often make it quite difficult to remove.

It can be removed manually

If you are good with computers and have technical knowledge you can sometimes remove spyware. It is often slow and takes a lot of time. There are many technical steps and if you are not careful you could damage your PC.

Using HijackThis

If you want to try to do it yourself HijackThis is a common tool used for diagnosing spyware problems. It is mainly for helping computer technicians find and remove spyware. It even comes with a warning:

Hijack This is for advanced users. If you are not familiar with running processes on your computer as well as anything ever installed that could tie into your web browser, it will not be much help to you.

Anti-Spyware software is the best way

With the great range of anti-spyware software available, doing it yourself is not worth the time and hassle. You can download and scan your PC in a few minutes. If spyware is detected it will be removed very quickly and the cost of a good anti-spyware program is quite low.

Our reviews guide you on the best product

I have reviewed some of the top anti-spyware solutions. So please click here to read the review and download one that suits your needs.

What is it?

Spyware is a type of software that is installed onto your computer without you knowing about it. It hides in the background and spies on your computer usage looking for information about you and your family. There are many different types of spyware, some watch the websites that you visit, some look for usernames and passwords and others popup ads onto your desktop.

Spyware Problems

Spyware can also change the settings on your computer, making your internet slower, changing your browser home page, prevent other programs from working correctly and sometimes cause the internet to stop working altogether.

How did I get it?

Most spyware is installed without you knowing about it. It is sometimes installed along with another program as a part of the setup process. Other types install through loopholes in a web browser or by looking like a useful toolbar or helper program.

With other software

Spyware can also come as a part of a shareware program or other software downloaded from the internet. You could download a program then install it, and the installer installs the spyware as an extra. Although the main program itself might not do any harm, the spyware does. In some cases, spyware authors have paid shareware authors to add spyware to their software. Other times, spyware authors have repackaged useful freeware with installers that slipstream spyware.

Anti-Spyware Software

As spyware became more of a threat many companies have developed anti-spyware software that can scan your computer and remove any rogue spyware programs that are found. Purchasing and using anti-spyware software has become a normal thing for home computer security, especially those using Microsoft Windows.