 |
|
|
|
By Patrick Baggatta
Any application that displays ad banners or serves ads to your browser can be called adware. Publishers and developers derive income from these advertisements, letting them distribute adware for free, similar to the business model used for television programs and magazines. Common examples of adware are many of the peer-to-peer file-sharing applications available as free downloads.
Is adware bad?
Although the majority of press about adware remains negative, the concept of free software subjecting you to an ad banner is not inherently evil. After all, there are expenses involved in developing the software you use, and those who work hard to create it deserve compensation. The problem begins when adware hides the delivery of components commonly referred to as spyware (also known as trackware or thiefware). Spyware uses your Internet connection to secretly transmit data to the company supplying the ads. This data, including personal information required to install the software combined with information about your online activity, is then sold or traded to third parties in exchange for more advertising dollars. The information is most commonly used so advertisers can more specifically target you with future ads.
But there is an even more devious level of spyware that may be living on your machine. Some spyware is so sophisticated it can (and regularly does) search your system Registry for information such as your real name, the software you have installed on your machine, and whatever other information it can find. This information is then shared with third parties.
How can I protect myself?
You are constantly being bombarded by reasonably benign levels of spyware in the form of Internet cookies, but the most powerful spyware is being delivered with adware downloaded from the Web. And don’t be fooled, spyware can come in the smallest packages. Even the tiniest applications you download, such as media player skins, download assistants, and FTP clients, can house spyware. And so the best way to avoid installing spyware is to show a little more caution with the software you install on your system.
Many adware applications dutifully warn users in the installation process that their personal information will be shared with third parties. Of course, finding this warning is not always easy and often requires reading a lengthy licensing agreement. Often the end user is guilty of, at the very least, passively opening the door to a spyware invasion. At Download.com, we require that software publishers prominently disclose all included adware components with their products.
How can I detect spyware on my system?
Spyware is designed to go unnoticed. And simply removing the host software that installed the spyware components on your system will not always remove the problem. Fortunately, there are several software solutions that will detect spyware activity on your system (much like an antivirus tool) and will help you remove the offending entities. The best known of these products are Ad-aware and Spybot - Search & Destroy. These products promise to hunt down all forms of spyware and clean them from your system.
Will a firewall help?
Another way to thwart the efforts of overzealous advertising services is to install a firewall. Products such as ZoneAlarm, Sygate Personal Firewall, and Tiny Personal Firewall will let you know when software on your system is trying to send data out to the Internet and block it. And although this may sound like an extreme solution for your home PC, a firewall is arguably the best ongoing protection against this kind of invasion of privacy. And with good firewall protection going for less than $70, how can you go wrong?
Frequent CNET Download.com contributor Patrick Baggatta is the lead developer for AstroManic Studios, a Web game development company.
|
|
|
