Over the past few years a new class of software has showed up and become extremely prevalent on computers that access the internet.  It goes by many different names: spyware, adware, malware, etc.  In this article I will refer to this harmful software as spyware.  You may recognize that your computer has spyware installed on it by observing one or more of the following:

• Reduced Performance – Spyware uses system resources, CPU time, memory, disk space, bandwith, etc.  All this results in your system operating slower.  Spyware has become more of a problem than viruses within the last 2 yeats.
• Home Page Hijacking – Have you noticed that your home page is something different than what you originally set it to be?  Have you noticed that there are sites located in your favorite’s location that you didn’t add?  This is probably due to Spyware being installed on your machine.
• More advertising – Are you noticing a lot of popups even though you have a popup blocker installed.  If so this is probably due to spyware.
• System instability – Spyware usually isn’t tested well.  This can cause your system to crash, hang, or many other strange behaviors.
• Deceptive functionality – In many ways spyware uses a “Trojan horse” tactic (virus).  It offers to track of forms, or to synchronize your PC’s clock, but it is also doing other hidden things while you browse the internet.
• Loss of privacy – Some spyware keeps track of web sites that you visit then in turn it sends the information back to the spyware vendor. 
• Security risks - Some spyware allows the spyware maker to download and install new code to your computer without you knowing or your approval.

 These are just a few indications that you have spyware on your machine.  At The-PC-Paramedics.com we have seen varying degrees of damage spyware has caused to a computers operating system.  Spyware may start out being just a annoying problem on you computer and can get to the point that the entire operating system needs to be re-installed.   Spyware has recently become a bigger problem than viruses on machine that we have worked on and we find that approximately 80% of the machines we work on that connect to the internet are infected with some form of spyware.

Why don’t Antivirus utilities block spyware?

Some anti-virus programs are beginning to protect against spyware but from our past experience there isn’t one program that can capture all spyware.  We use multiple programs when disinfecting a computer that is infected with spyware.  However the main reason most antivirus programs don’t block spyware is  that this software is spyware not a virus.  It is a program or piece of code that is installed on your machine without your knowledge and runs against your wishes.  It takes advantage of the fact that people click I Agree to a license agreement without even reading the actual agreement.  In many cases technically spyware is loaded onto your machine with your permission.  Click here to see some of the tricks that they use to get spyware installed on your computer.

How do I get rid of spyware?

You can remove each program manually but we recommend that you use a utility to automatically remove the spyware from your system.  Like we stated earlier there isn’t one utility that will remove all spyware but we have found that the many utilities work very well.  If you are interested in a free spyware scan go Here!  This scan will find the obvious spyware on your machine but we highly recommend a paid version offered by either Trend Micro or Webroot Spysweeper.

To use a manual removal method, you first need to determine what types of spyware have infested your system.  Each individual spyware requires different manual uninstall procedures.  Sometimes the spyware maker has a uninstaller located at their site, but usually you will need to take additional steps before completely removing the spyware from your machine.  This may include modifying the registry, we highly recommend that only a professional Technician modify your registry.  If you are looking for specific removal instructions for a piece of spyware you can enter the name of the spyware and do a google search this should return detailed removal instructions.  

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