SolveYourProblem
Article Series: Spyware
Gid Rid of Spyware on My System
How
Does Spyware
Find Its Way to Your Hard Drive?
There are several types of spyware out there today. No matter
what kind you get, they are most annoying and can be quite
costly. It doesn’t take much to get this junk on your computer
these days and is everywhere. For the most part, every site
you enter has some form of it. Whether it is pop-ups or secret
downloads it does not matter. For the most part there are three
main ways to get spyware installed into your machine. You
can either accidentally down load it from the web site you
are
on by an Active X or Java trigger. You may also download it
purposefully thinking that it is another program to later find
out it had a spyware bundle inside of it. Or, someone you know
who has access to your computer can place it manually onto
your machine with out you even knowing.
Downloaded
spyware is the most common way to get bugged. It
comes with most freeware and is the reason it is free. All
those neat cursers, screen savers, and tool bars are a great
source of infection. They are also common in shareware programs
that transfer music and movie files from computer to computer.
The programmer installs the spyware into the middle of the
original file as a bundle. This will allow you to have the
program but also bring affiliate advertisement and money to
the programmer for bugging your computer. This may seem devious
but even so the companies that offer shareware and freeware
know you must agree to there privacy and license agreement
before the download can take place. The problem with these
agreements is that they are the same as the good companies.
They basically tell you that you risk issues when downloading
items from the Internet and bank on the fact that you will
not read the whole thing before clicking “agree”.
Port
or browser unknown installed spyware consists of those
programs that squeak by you with out you even seeing them.
They prey on open and unsecured ports as well as Active X and
Java automatic downloads. This type of spyware is received
by going onto a web site that has been triggered to detect
Active X or Java in your browser. If these are present then
they will read the information hidden in the site and begin
to download it to your computer as prompted. They will not
be blocked by your firewall because a program already installed
on your computer runs them. Usually they will run unknowingly
for quite sometime before you see a change in your system.
By the time you realize they are there, it will be too late
and all the information no matter how personal will be sent.
This type of spyware can be in the form of adware, keyloggers,
pornware, or any other type of malware.
Manually
installed spyware is not something you can get from
surfing the web. This is not installed from remote computers
or any computer at all. Someone who has complete access to
the computer places this type of spyware onto a system. Keyloggers
are small inline devices placed in between the keyboard and
computer. They are so extremely small that they are very hard
to detect and can unnoticed for long time periods. This type
of device requires that the person placing the device be in
physical contact with the computer. A family member may do
this to see what is being done on the computer when not supervised
usually places this type of keylogger in a home. They are capable
of capturing passwords, user names, and other personal information.
This includes conversations via instant messenger and e-mails.
The software keylogger uses a hooking device to monitor all
keystrokes. It uses the Window function of SetWindowHookEx().
This type of program is installed via corrupted files on the
net or through other spyware techniques. Once downloaded into
the system they initiate the hook function and a DLL function
for logging. This software can capture almost every thing one
does on the computer. The third type of keylogger is the kernel/driver
one. This type gets its information directly from the keyboard.
It replaces the main software for tracking keystrokes. It can
be so cleverly programmed that it is almost completely undetectable.
It is executed on boot and starts before any user-level programs
start up. It cannot get auto-complete passwords like the other
types can.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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