Believe it or not, once upon a time securing our computers didn't require an arsenal of utilities and never-ending maintenance. In those days, which we'll call the pre-Internet period, keeping your computer free of viruses, spyware, trojan horses, adware, and the like entailed little more than not sharing your floppy disks with other computers.
But the advent of the Internet, while great in so many ways, has brought about threats and activity that demand nothing less than full-time attention — from you, your IT staff, or automated scanning utilities. Can you even imagine a life without real-time virus scanning and near-daily security updates from Microsoft?
The sad thing is that even these measures aren't enough now. Virus protection is like, so yesterday, with the latest quasi-criminal craze coming in the form of adware and spyware, insidious little programs that are often installed and running behind the scenes without the user's knowledge. Your virus scanner has enough to contend with without having to control these types of "malware" as well. And since your virus scanner isn't up to the task, that means it's time to add yet another utility or two to your arsenal.
Spyware vs. Adware
It's important to distinguish between the two types of malware, as they're actually quite different in nature. Adware refers to software and/or cookies that typically profile your surfing and shopping habits and display targeted advertising as a result. While legal because of the disclosures included — in the finest of fine print of course — in the user license agreement that no one with a life has the time to actually read, adware programs typically introduce themselves to a computer in a clandestine manner, rendering changes and a stream of advertising that leave the user completely confused and clueless as to their origins.
Some of the best known adware firms are Gator (which incidentally recently changed its name to Claria Corporation in an attempt to get away from all the negative publicity concerning its adware components) and WhenU.com, with a few of the more popular software applications that contain adware spanning the likes of GoZilla Free, Alexa Toolbar, BonziBuddy, CoolWebSearch, KaZaA, Gator eWallet, TurboDownload, and PopUp Killer.
Spyware, on the other hand, is software used to monitor actual computer activity, often logging your keystrokes for viewing by the controller of the spyware. These tools can be legal in certain environments (work and parental control are often cited as two 'justifiable' reasons), but are more often used by the unscrupulous to obtain and use your personal information.
