Many of my customer’s computers are loaded with the stuff. When I get asked what “Spyware” is, I can answer that in multiple, and sometimes confusing ways. So, I put together this list of some of the components of “Spyware”. By definition, almost all Spyware can be classified as a Trojan. Some content and or definitions were borrowed from the internet
“Spyware” is a generic term for software that
installs itself on your computer, many times without your knowledge, and then either clogs up your system so that it runs very slowly, and/or sends confidential information to someone else without your knowledge or approval. ADWARE: Covertly installed on your computer to generate a stream of unsolicited advertisements. Many times it will affect system performance by using up your resources. Enough of these will slow your system to a crawl, or cause it to stop functioning entirely. BROWSER HIGHJACKER: Change a browser setting, usually altering default start and search pages. It can modify nearly every aspect of a browser including adding and editing bookmarks. Some of these things also bury themselves elsewhere in your system, so that when you change your default start-up page back to where you want it, your browser is automatically "high-jacked" back to the offending place. Example: Every time you start Internet Explorer, you get to a page labeled "about: blank" with a list of links. BROWSER PLUG-IN: Installed as a tool-bar or a search and navigation feature; plug-ins provide complete access to the browser and can modify, spy on, and redirect tasks. One example of a "good" plug-in is the Google Toolbar, which allows you to block "pop ups" and "pop under", and also provides quick access to the Google web-search engine
SPYWARE: Collects demographic and usage information, usually for advertising purposes. Modules are almost always installed and run secretively. Claria (aka "Gator") is a good example of this. They provide the "engine" for other companies, and, on purpose, make their official un-install almost unusable. It’s a major pain, and it is very close to "hostile" or "malware". Another source of “Spyware” is programs like Kazaa and Grokster. TROJAN: Any software that a user is not aware of or did not intentionally install; generally used to compromise security or privacy. It is definitely considered hostile software. KEYLOGGER: Runs in the background and logs keystrokes. That information is hidden in the machine for later retrieval or is sent to the attacker.
