Is “Friendly” Spyware/Adware a Threat? What it Does?

Regardless of where it comes from, Spyware sends information about you somewhere.

There is literally no “good” spyware if we use the definition above, but there are pieces of software that are not bad for you or your system that act somewhat like spyware – in the sense of tracking information about you – but in almost all cases you did opt in to allowing these items on your machine and they do only something legitimate.

Basically “good” spyware would be cookies and key-loggers for sites and software you have agreed to use as part of your “contract” with either, or which you are choosing to use to enable faster or more pleasant web-surfing.



Example of this would include:

• Cookies for friendly sites

• Active-X controls for friendly sites

• Java scripts for friendly sites

• Key loggers for friendly software.

• Key loggers for friendly software.

A “key logger” does what it sounds like, which is records things you do with your keyboard and mouse. For example, if you accept a trial on software that is good for 30 loads, the way the company keeps track of those loads is through a key logger. You almost certainly agreed to this in the terms, conditions or registration of the software – and a large part of the time these things are invisible and won’t harm your machine or transmit confidential information like passwords.

Adware may also include friendly cookies that help identify you, help you log in to websites with which you transact business like “legitimate” sites – for example, major search engines. The reasons why people want to drive traffic are complex (as a web marketer you may be familiar with some of them) but the most important thing is you don’t want your machine to be a pawn in someone else’s web marketing game without your permission. The vast majority of spyware is not friendly, and the scanning programs are very good at telling the difference.

You may not be able to entirely stop spyware from entering your system, but you can minimize it through a combination of behaviors and browser settings, then find and remove it with an easy-to-use variety of software tools.

How does spyware get on your machine?

Spyware enters your system through several major routes. These include:

• “Holes” in either your operating system or browser software.

The solution to most of these is “security fixes” or security patches, are yet to be published on Amfas Tech

• Online account registrations.

These can be friendly. For example, if you register at Amazon.com, Amazon uses a cookie to “remember” who you are, let you sign in faster, shop more easily and get served offers and items likely to be of interest.

• Downloading images, sound or video clips.

When you agree to download something from a website, the downloading process can bring with it software pieces you didn’t exactly agree to download! While viruses will usually be caught by virus software, spyware will almost never be caught by them because the software is differently written.

• “Active” pages on web sites including Java and Active-X

Some security experts advise against enabling these technologies as a result. For large corporations that may make sense, but the typical small business can find better ways to manage these risks while still enjoying full web functionality.

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