Acceptable terms for a site that does not want to get tagged with adult language ratings are reportware, adware, contentware, and hijackware.  Catch me off-line and I'll be more than happy to name a few more as well as share some experiences.

I have been asked a number of times what is spyware, how does it get onto a computer, and what are the consequences.  Simply, spyware is software that is installed to your system that will track your surfing habits and computer use.

It gets installed either maliciously by scrupulous means or, and this could also be considered malicious, because you agreed when you installed that cool new screen saver or neat little icon in the system tray that reports the weather temperature.  Honest!  Try reading the end user license agreements (EULA) when installing software the next time.  It is because of this EULA that anti-virus vendors are hesitant to add spyware detection and removal to their software.

Rather than put too much additional commentary and effort into typing a page, it seems better to put together a collection of worthy links.

Informational links:

http://www.stopbadware.org

http://onguardonline.gov

http://www.microsoft.com/security/articles/spyware.asp

http://www.spywareinfo.com/

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/

http://spotlight.getnetwise.org/spyware/

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

http://www.spy-buster.com/spywareinfo.htm

http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/

Scanning and removal tools:

Microsoft AntiSpyware

AdAware

SpyBot Search and Destroy

Spy Buster

Prevention tools:

Spywareblaster

Spywareguard

I used to have a batch file to automate Ad-Aware as a scheduled task.  This was very useful, as it was one less maintenance task to remember.  With the last freeware release of Ad-Aware command line options are no longer available, a purchased version must be used.

Microsoft's purchase of Giant Software has extended them into the anti-spyware software market.   Because the product is in beta it is anyone's guess what the final version will encompass.  At this time it appears Microsoft will keep it free for personal use when out of beta.  It has many nice features including running as a service for prevention of infections, updates automatically, and can be set for scheduled scanning and removal.  I did replace SpyBot Search and Destroy with it until news reports surfaced that MS was going to purchase Claria (makers of gator and other scumware).  The ensuing uproar on message boards, in the news, on lists and blogs may have contributed to MS withdrawing this purchase offer.  Many, including myself, decided after this mayhem that perhaps it would be best to stick with a product such as Search and Destroy and let MS continue to patch their operating system and application suites.

Step by step instructions for Ad-Aware updating, complete with screen captures, can be found at James T. Bowen's help page.

Some of my friends and co-workers have a contest going.  If you have a screen capture of an unusually large find, send it to me and it will get posted.  Just do a "Print Screen" to copy the screen showing your results, then paste it into an e-mail.  I'll take care of converting it.  So far, this record of 2224 items found by an Ad-Aware scan seems to be unbeatable!

I take that back, here's the NEW record holder!  Sorry the capture isn't too good, this machine was so bad it couldn't scan unless in safe mode.

As with most pages at SWCA, I'm more than happy to add a useful link so feel free to pass it along.

Click HERE to mail a link for this document to someone.

Schmahl World Computer Assistance, LLC

this page:  http://www.schmahl.net/spyware.php

updated August 14, 2006