Computers and Technology

Computer

Some owners of badly infected computers resort to contacting technical support experts, or even buying a new computer because the existing system "has become too slow". The cumulative effect, and the interactions between spyware components, cause the symptoms commonly reported by users: a computer which slows to a crawl, overwhelmed by the many parasitic processes running on it. As with computer viruses, researchers give names to spyware programs which may not be used by their creators.

Law

Unauthorized access to a computer is illegal under computer crime laws. Since the owners of computers infected with spyware generally claim that they never authorized the installation, Then this would suggest that the promulgation of spyware would count as a criminal act. Such laws make it illegal for anyone other than the owner or operator of a computer to install software that alters Web-browser settings, monitors keystrokes, or disables computer-security software. Beware, much of the programs present the user with an end-user license agreement which protects the creator from prosecution under computer contaminant laws.

Detection

Malicious websites attempt to install spyware on readers' computers. To detect spyware, computer users have found several practices useful in addition to installing anti-spyware programs. Some users install a large hosts file which prevents the user's computer from connecting to known spyware related web addresses. Many normal computer users are however still unfamiliar with the term, and most never use it. Instead, virus is commonly used in the general media to describe all kinds of malware. It includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, and other malicious and unwanted software.

For instance, since 2003, the majority of widespread viruses and worms have been designed to take control of users' computers for black-market exploitation. For a malicious program to accomplish its goals, it must be able to do so without being shut down, or deleted by the user or administrator of the computer it's running on. Crackers typically use backdoors to secure remote access to a computer, while attempting to remain hidden from casual inspection. Spyware programs are commercially produced for the purpose of gathering information about computer users, showing them pop-up ads, or altering web-browser behavior for the financial benefit of the spyware creator.

The infected computers are used as proxies to send out spam messages. The advantage to spammers of using infected computers is that they are available in large supply and they provide protects to the spammer from prosecution. In order to coordinate the activity of many infected computers, attackers have used coordinating systems. Lastly, it is possible for a malware creator to profit by simply stealing from the person whose computer is infected.