spyware

Everyone has heard the terms spyware and adware but few people know the difference.

What is adware?
Adware is software that is on your computer that shows you advertisements thru the use of banners and pop up windows. If your surfing the Internet and windows begin to pop up on you it is a good sign you have some on your computer.

Adware can slow your computer down by using it's ram and cpu resources. Adware is usually non threatening. It is annoying and sometimes disturbing having these windows pop up on you but it also helps to cover the cost of some of the programming for these freeware programs.

What is spyware?
This is usually installed on your computer when you install some other program. Alot of the time it will come from freeware. This software can track your every move recording every key stroke and send that information back to it's creator without you knowing. The creator of the program then uses the information they get back for advertising / marketing or they sell it to another party.

These programs can scan files, install other software, read cookies, hijack your homepage and destroy files. This is dangerous stuff, if your PC is not safe guarded from these threats it should be.