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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.
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