What is spyware?

Spyware is virtually unregulated. Add to this unfavorable scenario the fact that spyware uses personal resources: your bandwidth, processing power, and memory, to perform work for an outside entity at the expense of your privacy. Spyware is often associated with software that displays advertisements (called adware) or software that tracks personal or sensitive information. That does not mean all software which provides ads or tracks your online activities is bad. Spyware is hard for an average user to find. If ads are shown, they anonymously launch behind the scenes.

Spyware is Internet jargon for any data collection program that secretly gathers information about you and relays it to advertisers and other interested parties. Adware usually displays banners or unwanted pop-up windows. Spyware is getting more malicious as well. New versions are used to transmit e-mail addresses for spamming, share your personal information (passwords, Social Security numbers, credit card information, etc.), increasing your risk for identity theft and other privacy issues. Spyware is a program installed on your computer, with or without your permission that can change system configurations, monitor your Internet activity and broadcast the information back to an outside party, often advertisers. The milder forms of spyware are simply annoying, with increased spam and unwanted pop-ups; these are known as adware.

Spyware is often created by legally formed companies with their own development staff. Spyware companies have sometimes threatened defamation or libel action against anti-spyware groups and other companies. Spyware is not illegal in and of itself, but some argue that it ought to be. Besides reporting on what web sites you visit, it has the capacity to record and report a log of your keystrokes and the documents you work on. Spyware is software that hides on your computer, usually without your knowledge and without you knowing how it got there. Spyware can be used for collecting information about your computer's hardware and software configuration, your web surfing and online buying habits, your passwords, your email address and personal information including your name, age and gender.

Spyware is a breach of privacy because users are usually unaware that spyware packages have been installed, or that their private data is being intercepted by a third party. Spyware programs can collect personal information, redirect Web browsing and divert advertising revenue to the attackers. Spyware is often associated with software that displays advertisements, called adware. Some advertisers may covertly install adware on your system and generate a stream of unsolicited advertisements that can clutter your desktop and affect your productivity. Spyware is a subset of adware, focused on reporting personal information.

Spyware is a form of revenue to the company that produced the freeware, so if you remove the spyware sponsoring it, the freeware may no longer work. This is a small price to pay to remove such a security threat from your computer, but removal is your choice, you just have to decide where your priorities lie. Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. Spyware can get in a computer as a software virus or as the result of installing a new program. Spyware is commonly bundled with illegitimate downloads; it is often times seen in files found on file-sharing networks.

Spyware is software that gathers information about your habits and reports the data to unscrupulous companies and individuals. Oftentimes used as a blanket term, spyware encompasses other types of malicious software, such as adware, which displays ads--often as pop-up windows in Web browsers. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. Spyware is a data collection source used to silently track your web surfing behavior. This information is then passed to marketing or advertising companies without your knowledge or consent.