Adware....
Have you ever been in that situation where you walk away from your computer for five minutes and come back to a screen absolutely congested with advertisements and promotions? Well, you have Adware to thank for that...
Adware and spyware have a lot of similarities with one another; they both can get on your computer without your knowledge, they both run in the background making the user unfamiliar of their presence and well...they're both just annoying to have. But, we'll tell you right now, if we were forced to choose between either having adware or spyware on my computer, we would choose adware hands-down. Then again, using safe browsing practices and the proper tools, not only will you be able to efficiently detect Adware and Spyware, but you can also prevent Adware and Spyware from ever reaching your computer!!
Believe it or not, some of you out there just might like adware on your computer. They do have a purpose after all for the consumer. While some adware programs just randomly pollute your screen with advertisements, others try to deliver advertisements that you may be interested in. More sophisticated forms of adware monitor your browsing habits, taking track of the websites you visit. With that information, the adware calculates advertisements you may be interested in and presents them on your screen. You can consider it a sophisticated way of target marketing.
Because of the similarities of spyware and adware, you can detect and prevent adware in the same ways as you can with spyware. For starters, you can do the following:
Do the research: If there is a program you want to download, don't download it until you scope out the company. Does the website look legitimate? Is there customer support you can contact for the program(s)? Can the company that is providing the program be trusted? Look at the company's website and read about them so you can have an understanding on not only what their program will do for you, but also if the company is legitimate or not.
Keep your browser up-to-date: Security patches are constantly released so that your web browser can be protected from the spyware that takes advantage of known weaknesses.
Read the licensing and use agreements: If you have to click an "I Agree" button before downloading something, there is a reason for that. Through reading the agreements, you can discover the ways that information will be collected from you.
Disable ActiveX unless you need it: This is more of an advanced thing to do. While ActiveX is used by a lot of sites for functionality purposes, it can also used to automatically install spyware onto your system. Since disabling ActiveX is different for each type of browser, just go to Google and do a search for how to disable ActiveX with your browser.
Just like spyware, adware can be tricky to remove from your computer. For additional assistance, you can use tools that will accompany you in identifying and removing adware which already found its way onto your system. Make sure to check out our recommended tools to help prevent and detect adware. It works for spyware too!
