"8 Types of Spyware - Do You Know Them? Adware, Trojans, Dialers, Cookies, and More"
How many types of spyware you know?
Maybe you don't know that there are so many types of computer spyware. This article will reveal to you all the different types of sypware that you may not recognize them. Some of the spyware you may know and some are more malicious than others.
But to be truth, most of the spyware programs are in bad intention that try to steal something from your computer such as personal login data, or make your computer problem. Listed here I explain each type of sypware:
1. Spyware
Spyware includes programs that can record what you do on your computer and share that information with a stranger via an Internet connection. Some can watch and record your web-surfing habits. Some log everything you type. Spyware can also capture user IDs and passwords. It might have the ability to see where you have been on the Web. If there's information on your computer that is of interest to someone and can make them a little money, there's probably a spyware program to capture it.
2. Adware
Adware is similar to spyware. It's a form of spyware and it also collects information about you as you surf the Web, but then it shows you ads.
Adware programs use the information collected to display advertisements in the form of pop-ups, ads that are targeted directly at you based on the Web sites you've visited. Adware, like spyware, can slow down your system by hogging system resources. It can also slow down Internet browsing, by using valuable bandwidth on ads.
3. Trojan Horses
These are destructive programs that masquerade as benign programs. Frequently, Trojan horses arrive in e-mail. There may, in fact, be an e-card, but to be a Trojan horse the program will also have a destructive characteristic, such as deleting files or corrupting directories.
Even though Trojan horses are classified as a form of virus, they are also spyware because they can allow malicious people to connect remotely to your computer over the Internet. Sometimes it's called backdoor Trojans because after they are installed on your computer, they can open an electronic backdoor so someone bad can sneak in from the Internet.
4. Snoopware
Software that watches your computer habits on behalf of someone else usually someone you know such as a parent, employer, or spouse. Parents may monitor they children's computer habits, Employers might also want to keep an eye on employee computer habits, etc
The software can grab screen captures (snapshots of a screen) and record email, chat conversations, and other computer communications. In some cases it can deliver that information in real-time across a computer network.
5. Browser Hijackers
Browser hijackers are perhaps the most malicious spyware programs because they are so hard to remove. Normally, browser hijackers will override your browser home page setting and reset it to the one of their choosing, usually a commercial web page.
If you reset it to your own settings, the hijacker's code runs and resets the homepage again the next time your computer restarts or your browser is opened.
6. Key Loggers
Key Loggers is software that run secretly in a computer's memory and capture everything typed into the computer. It then saves it for later analysis by a third party. A key logger can also be a piece of hardware that is attached between a computer's keyboard and its keyboard port.
7. Dialers
Dialers are programs that underhandedly dial a remote computer via a modem incurring long distance charges or toll-line fees. The longer you are connected the more you pay.
Dialers are ineffective if your computer's modem is not connected to a phone line with a dial tone.
8. Cookies
Cookies are tiny text files from a remote website stored on a computer that contain data used to help identify a user to the website or useful for completing a web-based task. They also record sign-in and other site logon information that allows easy access to the site when you come back later.
Cookies should be the least of your worries as you can delete it from your computer.
So, with this explanation about the 8 types of spyware program, I believe you have a better understanding and be more careful when surfing online.
Can't find what you're looking for? Try Google Search!
Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, XP, Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
and Outlook are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
