Spyware, popups and viruses. What are they and what do they do? We’ll address viruses first. If you have a computer, you have no doubt heard of a computer virus. A virus, in computer terms, is an unwanted program designed to run on your pc to do a certain task without your knowledge or consent. It may be destructive, funny, or just cause migraines.

The most common method of delivery for viruses is email. There was a time when it was spread through floppy disks from computer to computer or through BBS’ (bulletin board systems) prior to the internet becoming so widespread. When getting a virus through email, the virus is usually an attachment that will run (execute) when opened. Some viruses are designed to run if you preview the email message.  If your pc does not have antivirus software installed, then it runs its program. If all of a sudden your pc locks up, or is very sluggish, or experiences strange errors, then the virus may be doing its dirty work. For example: Some viruses target antivirus programs and try to disable and remove them, allowing the virus to further run undetected. It may do other things, like delete or rename certain files, like MP3s (songs) AVIs or MPegs (movies) or JPGs or BMPs(pictures)- (copy this link http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/vbs.loveletter.a.html) . It may also attempt to gather information about you, your pc, and your network, and send that information to its creator in hopes of gaining access to it. They can log keystrokes into a file, and send it via email, hopefully capturing passwords, access codes, etc.. It may also target certain types of businesses by looking for certain key words within documents- and if those words exist.. Well.. Just hope you have an antivirus solution installed.

     Now, even if you have an antivirus program installed, can you still be infected? YES!! But how? A few different ways. 1) Your antivirus program is only as good as the viruses it can detect. Each virus has a unique "signature". The AV program matches this signature with its database of known virus signatures to determine if the files it is scanning is a known virus or not. If it matches a signature within its database, then its deemed a virus, and the appropriate action is taken (Deleted, quarentined, access denied, etc). In essence, this means that if you don’t keep it up to date, then newer viruses can go undetected.  Other ways you can become infected is if your pc is on a network, and there is another pc that does not have AV protection.  Some viruses are network aware (meaning they explore and scan for networked computers from your pc), and copy them to other pcs or to a network share- perhaps the S: or G: .  A simple copy command is not indicative of a virus, as is deleting a file.  Its the program itself that is the virus, not the actions the virus takes.

  Moreover, versions of Symantec as well as Microsoft Office applications are becoming more intuitive when it comes to spyware.  They have incorporated spyware detection and removal into their programs.

If this is the first time you are hearing the term "spyware" then you are fortunate. In most recent times, the majority of the slowdown with pcs isn’t a virus infection- it’s most likely caused by spyware / malware / adware. These programs get into your system various ways. The most common are via popup and web pages visited.

Popups are dubious enough to claim that your pc is already infected with "spyware" and by "clicking here" you are installing or checking or scanning for the "spyware". Unbeknownst to you, but by clicking "Scan" or "OK", you are agreeing to the terms of the software you are about to install. This includes allowing the so-called scanning program to install not only that, but other programs as well. This Trojan-like behavior is all too common and for the not-so-well versed computer user, it may seem like a good thing to do. Do yourself a favor. DON’T!

Other types of popups include "Warning - your pc is broadcasting its IP address! Click here to..." (Your computer is supposed to broadcast its IP address). Another is "Warning! The time on your pc is Off. Click here to install a utility that will synchronize your time... " etc..". Again, this program, along with PrecisionTime, also includes Date Manager (which is like an online calendar) and also Gator. Gator is a program that watches where you surf, what you search for, and where you shop. Then, it provides you with popups or advertisements from various vendors in hopes of getting you to purchase their product. Some of the programs are brazen enough to say they help STOP popups, when in fact, they allow them and are the popup program themselves!

The other way you may get roped into downloading and installing spyware is by visiting not so friendly web sites. If you have ever mistyped a popular web page, then you know. All of a sudden your page fills with new Internet Explorer windows (or your get many script errors if you have a popup blocker). Many of these are advertisements, and some even attempt to alter your home page. Your home page is the initial page that is opened when you start a web browser. By setting your page to theirs, you are subjecting your computer to whatever codes and programs they have in their web page.

Have Hotbar or MyWebSearch? Then you probably have a lot of popups too. If you installed a popup stopper / blocker, you may be lucky enough to fend all if not most of the popups off. However, as a practical matter, it’s best to prevent the adware / spyware / malware from running then to stop its effect. With the programs running in the background, your system will realize slow and sluggishness, will almost always get a popup when you are on the internet, and sometimes get popups when you are just idle.

Most, if not all peer-to-peer sharing programs (Imesh, Limewire, Napster etc) have popup programs built in so that if you remove the spyware portion of the program, then sharing or retrieving of files (music, videos, pictures, etc) won’t work. If peer-to-peer sharing is required or needed, I would suggest installing it, getting the files you need, then uninstalling it. You’d be surprised how many spyware items are downloaded to your pc by installing these programs.