With the explosion of peer to peer file sharing on the net comes new methods of advertising to pay for operating costs to the creators of popular computer software. Many computer companies struggle to pay for these costs and turn to software bundling as a way to increase revenue. Often times the highest paying marketing campaign is the most disruptive method to the end user, thus how Spyware gets a bad name. In this email we discuss the different types of Spyware / Adware / Malware and how to remove, prevent, and stay free from these annoying parasites.

Have you locked your doors?
Many people are unaware that their PC is often used as a server without their knowledge or consent. Imagine walking out of your house everyday with the front door and windows wide open, all of your bills sitting out on the kitchen table, your wallet laying on floor in plain site for all passers by to see. Along with your bills, there are also your bank statements, your porno magazines and videos, your address book and anything else that you wish to keep away from public view.

Better yet, think of somebody following you around with a video camera (or in this case, planting one on you), recording your every move 24 hours a day, watching what brand of cereal you eat, knowing your fetishes, following you to every store that you frequent, writing down the brand names of all products that you buy, eavesdropping on every conversation that you have with your friends, and takes a note of all the TV shows you like to watch and all of the artists that you listen to.

And if that isn't invasive enough for you, that same person who is taking down this information is calling up various advertisers from the products that you buy, and is selling your name, address, and phone number, so that when you get home for work and your ready for a relaxing dinner, you are flooded with telemarketing calls from every company that knows your personal business. And never mind sorting through the junk mail.

Does this sound far fetched to you? If you are a new PC or Internet user, and have not been educated about the use of Spyware, it is almost certain that this is happening to you at this very moment. Although there is nobody following you around with a video camera, there are companies who plant various programs in your computer, to track all of your surfing habits, record information, and sell that information to companies that want to bombard you with advertisements, in attempt to get you buy their products. Worse yet, you can fall victim to credit card thieves who record your key logging strokes when you fill out an online form, or a sociopath hacker who causes needless destruction to people's hard drives for no other reason, but that 'they can'.

Things to remember:
Spyware / Adware / Malware uses up system resources, CPU time, memory, disk space, and Internet bandwidth, making your system slower. It is good practice to scan your computer once a month for Spyware / Adware using the tools discussed later in this email.

Preventing Spyware / Adware from being installed on to your system:
There are a number of free tools available that will scan your computer on startup to determine if you have any unwanted programs installed. Programs are also available that act as a firewall to these types of unwanted computer programs, when a program is found on the system it is deleted immediately after confirmation. Read the rest of the email to discover how this is all done.

What is Spyware?
A general term for a computer program that gathers data and reports the findings back to an advertiser or Internet marketing firm. Spyware is a way for freeware software authors to make money from the software, rather than selling it to the users for a fee.

Spyware is often bundled with file sharing applications for the past 3 years and continue to be included in most freeware p2p applications. However there is a growing list of file sharing companies who boast no Spyware in their software.

The Internet has seen a spike in the amount of Spyware programs included into free software. Several high profile file sharing companies offer a paid ($3.00 - $15.00) version that contains no additional software. Purchasing a paid version of the software is a great way to support the development of new software from the company, most Spyware supported programs lack the functionality of the paid versions.

How does Spyware make its way to my computer?Spyware programs can be secretly installed when installing freeware programs. Freeware programs are computer programs that cost nothing to use, but earn revenue bundling Spyware into programs. Almost like a commercial for TV. When installing a computer program on your computer, it is important to pay attention to the options presented when installing. Many times people click 'Next, Next, Next' and bypass additional software includes, one of the ways Spyware finds a home on your computer. Websites can run scripts that install browser Spyware or cookies to track web statistics.

Some computer users claim that the only way to permanently remove Spyware from your computer is to reformat the hard drive(s) when all else fails and you can't get rid of the software. We don't suggest you do this immediately after reading this article if you have a problem, but you should always take this into consideration if you cannot rid your computer of annoying Spyware programs.

Common Spyware:
* Hotbar
* I-lookup
* n-case
* Savenow
* Lycos sidesearch
* Gator
* Mysearch
* Xupiter
* Comet Cursor
* Eates
* OnFlow
* Bonzai Buddy
* Brilliant Digital
* CommonName
* OfferCompanion
* Trickler
* WebHancer

What is Adware?
Software that collects data and delivers targeted advertising to the end user. The most common found Adware delivers pop up advertising to users of a computer. Have you ever been on your computer and suddenly a message pop ups on to your screen? If so, you most likely have some form of Adware installed on your computer.

Is Spyware illegal?
No. But privacy minded people could have a strong opinion about software being installed to track web usage on their home computers. Spyware in theory capable of delivering more than just banners and web page statistics to advertisers, the reason why so many people feel uncomfortable with the idea of software tracking their computer usage.

On the other hand, there are dozens of Spyware 'PC surveillance tools' programs that help monitor children's net activity, or even help suspicious spouses monitor their lover's computer activity or capture keystrokes, screen snapshots, email logging and Internet chat logging. The list continues to grow! Tools are also available to block these types of monitoring activities.

Spyware for the most part has been given a bad name due to software developers looking to earn profits from their software without charging users to run the software. Many computer programs today are supported by some type of Spyware or Adware, especially free file sharing programs where software makers look to maximize profitability in a growing market.

Browser Hijackers:
Aside from downloading and installing programs at your volition, the Web is filled with all different sorts of booby traps for you fall into. For example have you ever typed in a URL that didn't exist, and instead of getting the classic 404 message that the server was not found, you were redirected to a search page that you never intended to come across. Well, you have just been hijacked.

What's known as a 'Browser Hijacker' modifies the settings in your web browser, to either change your homepage to that company's homepage, or a different search page that would most likely bypass the search itself, and redirect you to a pay site. There is nothing justifiable in using this method. How dare they mess with your computer settings without your consent? That's why it's called hijacking. iGetNet, ILookUp, and LoadFonts are three known browser hijackers.

Browser Plug-ins:
Have you ever been surfing the web and you just happen to notice a search bar in your browser that just wasn't there before? These little tools pass themselves off to be a convenient search utility, but what it actually does is record your search entries and sends them home to its master. These are known as browser plug-ins. A lot of those 'surf the web for cash' schemes use these programs. Comet Cursor, Alexa and Huntbar are among the few.

Keyloggers:
Commercial Keyloggers to exactly what their name implies. They monitor the user's keystrokes in order to gather information about the user to relay back to its creator. I-Spy, NetTrack and WinGuardian are among the perpetrators.

Dialers:
An absolute crime!!! You sometimes find these sitting on your desktop after you close your web browser. Curious to find out what it may be, you open up the program and it makes an attempt to dial your modem. It's usually either an expensive 1-900 number or an international call with which you'll be paying through the nose. After you delete this travesty of a program from your desktop, much to your dismay, you find that the dialer was planted in several locations on your hard drive. What a dirty trick! Among the dials are names like BillByCall, DialerFactory, and HotActionDating.

Malware:
These can just simply be defined as programs that you did not ask for, and when executed, does things that you would just never want done to your computer.

* Stays resident in background
* Stealth: hides itself from user
* Makes changes to browser settings
* Connects to the Internet by itself

It drive-by installs, phones home after install, gives itself the right (in the EULA) to download and install software from its servers, and you have to *pay them* for a 'subscription' with a credit card to have it removed, then opt out of having the 'subscription' automatically renewed.

Spyware / Adware Removal:
Using a program called Ad-aware, you can delete most of the commonly used Spyware programs from your computer. Wilkshire.net & BBG techs are trained on how to safely remove most wares. You can reach them at repair@wilkshire.net.

What is Ad-aware?
Ad-Aware is the Wilkshire.net / BBG recommended tool that scans your computers memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known data-mining, aggressive advertising, and tracking components also known as Spyware / Adware. Ad-Aware also offers a paid version of the software that tracks in real time your computers Spyware activity.

Download Ad-Aware (free) online at http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Once the download is complete, this window will show up. Click next until you see the picture in the next step. At this screen, click finish to complete the installation. Double click the Ad-aware 6.0 shortcut icon on your desktop. This will open Ad-aware and you can start find those annoying programs. You will now see this window. Click start Click next You should see Ad-Aware scanning your computer for Spyware. Turn your speakers up for the next step! The scan will take about 1-10 minutes. If you had your speakers turned on you probably heard a buzz sound, that sound indicates your computer has Spyware. A little icon will now flash when the scan is complete. Click next The next screen should display a list of know Spyware programs on your computer. Right click on the list and choose 'select all objects'. Verify all the items have check marks and click next. This will confirm you want to remove all this resource-wasting, privacy-invading Spyware. Click OK You should now see a screen that shows Ad-aware is deleting all the objects from your computer. Once you have completed all the steps, and your system is clean of Spyware, restart your computer for the changes on your system to take effect.

Please contact us at support@wilkshire.net if we can answer any questions about this email. Also know that our PC service and repair department can help you in regards to Adware / Spyware / Malware problems in house or on-site. You can reach our service department at repair@wilkshire.net or via telephone at 330-874-9030, M-F 10AM to 6PM.