In my AVG article, I wrote about one of the lines of defense for optimal computer security, antivirus. Unfortunately, with the rise of the Internet, nosy organizations, and annoying advertisers, it is now necessary to implement two more layers of computer protection, anti-spyware and anti-adware. These two protection measures work similarly.

Spyware

Spyware is software that is written to log computer activity such as keys pressed, sites visited, and programs installed. Essentially, they spy on your computer usage (primarily for marketing, demographics, and statistics purposes). Hence the spying, these programs work silently and inconspicuously.

Adware

On the other hand, adware is blatant and in-your-face. Have you ever seen those ads that popup on your computer monitor? Most of the time, this is attributed to the website that you’re viewing. But many times, a program running in the background of your computer causes the popup. Adware is an unfair computer takeover. To me, all advertisements should have a fair incentive to view and tolerate them. Because of commercials, we are able to watch out favorite TV shows. For banner ads, we use MySpace. But for adware popups, there is nothing that we get in return. It is your computer! So, why should you tolerate random irrelevant popup ads when you are getting nothing back?

Not only does adware and spyware exploit, they slow down the computer. Every program running in the background puts more demands on the processor thus allowing it less time to focus on more important tasks.

Solution

Spybot Search and Destroy (or SS&D) is an excellent antispyware and antiadware program. Like antivirus programs, Spybot includes an ongoing real-time monitor that constantly checks if any spyware or adware infects the computer. This real-time monitor may seem a little weird at first because it will trigger the alert if you install anything that modifies potential spyware or adware infestation keys in the registry. For example, I get this when I install my nVidia driver.

Unlike, antivirus programs, There is also a cool function that will “immunize” your Windows registry against these malicious programs.

Try Spybot Search and Destroy!

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