Computer Safety - Adware

Adware Threats 

Compared to other threats, Adware (software designed to push unwanted Internet advertising at you) is pretty benign.  Not that the adware producers are nicer folks, it's just that their eye is set on the money, not on causing damage. 

That isn't to say that it won't cause problems.  It will!  Depending on the specific variety of adware that is on your computer and the amount of it, it can bring your computer to its virtual knees.  And it can about do the same thing to you as well.  

Adware is the variety of aggravating software that keeps popping ads up on your computer and can be so distracting and annoying that it's hard to do anything else.  

That's what it does to you.  What it can do to your computer is another story.  If you get enough adware on your computer, it can bring it down to a crawl.  Web pages that should take seconds to load can take minutes.  Each piece of adware requires a certain amount of your computer's resources.  So the more adware you have on your computer, the more resources will be consumed by that and that leaves that much less that you can use for things that you want to do.

Why adware?  

Adware producers make their money at your expense by contracting with companies to promote their products.  When their software then shows you an ad, they get paid for it.  Some of the most irritating ones are the ones that use their popups to try and sell you adware remover software.  They in effect cause you are problem and then offer to fix it for a price.  

Adware comes in all flavors, from those that will merely pop up once or twice a day to those that won't let you look at a screen for more than a few seconds.  They launch popups that cannot be disabled by popup blockers, take over your browser and take you to pages you don't wish to see, and sometimes put links to porn sites in your favorites folder.  

Where does adware come from?

That right there is the million dollar question.  Essentially, it can come from anywhere.  But it can almost always be said that the adware vendor uses some sort of trickery to get his product onto your computer.  They'd have to.  Nobody in their right mind would voluntarily install something that aggravates them to that level.

If you have downloaded a piece of software or a plugin, the adware might come from that.  Many freebie software products also install adware, and even if you remove the offending software (it's almost always junk), it leaves the adware behind.

It can also come from just visiting websites.  Reputable sites don't deal with adware, but many sites do.  Sometimes, you will have something that pops up and asks you if you want to do something.  However, what they've done is to enable both the yes and the no button to be the same thing.  Again, they are trying to trick you.  

Other times, it can popup something that looks like an ad, and it looks like a window in a window.  So if you click on the inside X to close the window, you actually click on the ad and install the software.

Staying away from adware

For all practical purposes, you cannot do anything that will guarantee you will never have adware on your computer.  What you can do however, is to minimize the risks and recognize the signs so that you can take action before it becomes to late.

It's pretty much a given that no matter what you do, you cannot avoid all instances of adware.  Adware has been reported to be included in AOL and Yahoo's Instant Messenger, it's included in many cool little applications that it looks like you should have.  You might go to a website to listen to something and it tells you that you need a plugin of some sort.  These also often have adware in them.

This is why many sites that target teens and kids are havens for adware.  This would include many band or music sites, lyrics sites, other sites that target teens.  They know that kids and teens are vulnerable, there for a reason, they trust "their band", and if the site tells them they need to install this plugin to see this really cool video, there is little hesitation.  The next thing you know, you are having ads pop up all over the place and nobody knows anything about it.

The only things that you can do to avoid adware are:

1) Do not download junk software or plugins.  Nothing is so spectacular that it's worth the next 4-5 hours of your life or a $300 service call to get rid of it.  This means kids too.  Talk to them.  Tell them the dangers and to not click on anything that tries offers to do something on your computer.

2) Stick as much as you can to mainstream websites.  Lyrics and band websites make almost no money on their own.  They have to obtain revenue somewhere and adware owners are willing to pay them some nice money to mess up your computer.

Detecting and removing adware

Install and keep up with products like AdAware and Spybot S&D.  These are two of the primary tools that you can use to eliminate adware.  Spybot S&D also does an immunization against adware and spyware so that if some website does try and download it, it probably won't be successful.  It's not perfect, but it's better than most anything else.

The other tool is called HiJack This.  This is a phenomenal tool, but if you aren't a computer geek, you'd be better off to stay away from it.  It will wipe out stuff that nothing else can, but if you make a mistake, it can render your computer unusable.