SPYWARE : A FEW MUST KNOW DETAILS OF THE LATEST SECURITY THREAT : ADWARE's!!!

There are a lot of PC users that know little about "Spyware", "Mal-ware", "hijackers", "Dialers" & many more variants of these privacy Intruders...What are they,How we Get them,What they do Etc is always a Concern for most of us.Well there are a Special Few who Blindly Trust the many so called Anti Malware,Anti Spyware Utilities and very happily watch the wonderful Graphicg on screen showing Scanning, Finding, Quarantining, Removing Etc...Oh Boy,Nothing screws more Badly than those Removers...Most often they not only do they not Detect the Actual Varient but they End up detecting the actually useful or Parts of a Usefull Program causing the Application to Crash...

What are spy-wares?

Spy-ware is the Internet jargon for Advertising Supported software (Also popularly called Ad-ware). It is a way for shareware authors to make money from a product, other than by selling it to the users. There are several large media companies that offer them to place banner ads in their products in exchange for a portion of the revenue from banner sales. This way, you don't have to pay for the software and the developers are still getting paid. If you find the banners annoying, there is usually an option to remove them, by paying the regular licensing fee.

Few Examples of Known spywares :

There are Literally thousands out there, new ones are added to the list everyday. A Few Popular ones Include :

• Alexa
• Aureate/Radiate,
• BargainBuddy,
• ClickTillUWin,
• Conducent Timesink,
• Cydoor,
• Comet Cursor,
• eZula/KaZaa Toptext,
• Flashpoint/Flashtrack,
• Flyswat,
• Gator,
• GoHip,
• Hotbar,
• ISTbar,
• Lions Pride Enterprises/Blazing Logic/Trek Blue,
• Lop (C2Media),
• Mattel Brodcast,
• Morpheus,
• NewDotNet,
• Realplayer,
• Xupiter,
• Songspy,
• WebHancer,
• Web3000,
• Windows Messenger Service.

How to check if a program has spyware?

Now That we Know a Bit About Them,The Biggest Question Arising is How do I know if a Program is Bound with such Malwares?Thats also not such a Big Deal :
There are many sites that keeps a database of programs that are known to install spyware.
Example : SPYWARE GUIDE :

Quote:GoTo :
http://www.spywareguide.com/product_search.php

The First and Most Effective First Line Defence is to block pop-ups!!!(IE Pop-ups).
There are tons of different types of these Pop Up's out there, The Hacking Community Prefers these usually :

• Google Toolbar - Its a Freeware and Simply Better than some of the Premium Sharewares.
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://toolbar.google.com/

• AdMuncher - One of the Best in the Shareware Class.
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://www.admuncher.com

Incases where you are already Infected by One Then Give These a Try :

• Lavasoft Ad-Aware : A Nice Freeware.
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

  It will Help to Detect and safetly remove the "spyware".
  Info: Ad-aware is a multi spyware removal utility, that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware components and lets you remove them. The included backup-manager lets you reinstall a backup, offers and multi language support.
• Spybot-Search And Destroy : This program is Freeware.
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://www.safer-networking.org/

  Info: Detects and removes spyware of different kinds (dialers, loggers, trojans, user tracks) from your computer. Blocks ActiveX downloads, tracking cookies and other threats. Over 10,000 detection files and entries. Provides detailed information about found problems.
• BPS Spyware and Adware Remover : This program is Shareware
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://www.bulletproofsoft.com/spyware-remover.html

  Info: Adware, spyware, trackware and big brotherware removal utility with multi-language support. It scans your memory, registry and drives for known spyware and lets you remove them. Displays a list and lets you select the items you'd like to remove.
• Spy Sweeper v2.2 : This program is a Shareware
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://www.webroot.com/wb/products/spysweeper/index.php

  Info: Detects and removes spyware of different kinds (dialers, loggers, trojans, user tracks) from your computer.
  The best scanner out there, and updated all the time.
• HijackThis 1.97.7 : This program is a Freeware
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

  Info: HijackThis is a tool, that lists all installed browser add-on, buttons, startup items and allows you to inspect them, and optionally remove selected items.

Inorder to prevent "spyware" from being installed on your Computer you Could use :

• SpywareBlaster 2.6.1 : This program is a Freeware
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html

  Info: SpywareBlaster doesn`t scan and clean for so-called spyware, but prevents it from being installed in the first place. It achieves this by disabling the CLSIDs of popular spyware ActiveX controls, and also prevents the installation of any of them via a webpage.
• SpywareGuard 2.2 : This program is a Freeware
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html

  Info: SpywareGuard provides a real-time protection solution against so-called spyware. It works similar to an anti-virus program, by scanning EXE and CAB files on access and alerting you if known spyware is detected.
• XP-AntiSpy : This program is a Freeware
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://www.xp-antispy.org/

  Info: XP-AntiSpy is a small utility to quickly disable some built-in update and authentication features in WindowsXP that may rise security or privacy concerns in some people.
• SpySites : This program is a Freeware
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://camtech2000.net/Pages/SpySites_Pr...ySitesFree

  Info: SpySites allows you to manage the Internet Explorer Restricted Zone settings and easily add entries from a database of 1500+ sites that are known to use advertising tracking methods or attempt to install third party software.

For more Detailed Information about "spyware" try These sites :

Quote:http://www.spychecker.com/
http://www.spywareguide.com/
http://www.cexx.org/adware.htm
http://www.theinfomaniac.net/infomaniac/...ware.shtml
http://www.thiefware.com/links/
http://simplythebest.net/info/spyware.html

Here are a Few Usefull tools...

Stop Windows Messenger Spam 1.10

Quote:GoTo : http://www.jester2k.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk...ftware.htm

This program is Free
Info: "Stop Windows Messenger Spam" stops this Service from running and halts the spammers ability to send you these messages.

All these softwares will help remove and prevent evil spammers and spywares attacking your PC. I myself recommend getting "spyblaster" "s&d spybot" "spy sweeper" & "admuncher" to protect your PC. A weekly scan is also recommended

Free Virus Scan
Scan for spyware, malware and keyloggers in addition to viruses, worms and trojans. New threats and annoyances are created faster than any individual can keep up with.

Quote:GoTo : http://defender.veloz.com/ - 15k

Searching for files, Archieve...etc is now just a Click Away at 2020Search.com
Having trouble finding what you re looking for on: .? 2020Search will instantly provide you with the result you re looking for by drawing on some of the best search engines the Internet has to offer. Your result is a click away!

Quote:GoTo : http://www.2020search.com/ - 43k

Download the BrowserVillage Toolbar.
Customize your Browser! Eliminate Pop-up ads before they start, Quick and easy access to the Web, and much more. Click Here to Install Now!

Quote:GoTo : http://www.browservillage.com/ - 36k

MY PERSONAL FAVOURITES :

• STOPZilla! Anti Malware Kit with Pop up Blocker, Silent Scan, Real Time Network and File Protection...(Yup...With Activator!!!)
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://Will Post Link as soon as I Finis...ding Them.

• SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition - Way more than Enough by Itself and Yup..this one will Let you Clean and Completely Remove the Trojen,Malware cookies Etc(Unlike Malware Bytes!!!Cheators...Why would they Give It saying Free and After Downloading All it can do for free is just Detect??Maybe I should Inform them that it Just took 6Hrs.for it to download Thanks to the Blazzing Speed of "Bored Band"(No.not Spelling Mistake!!Its Boring) Indian Networks
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://Will Post Link as soon as I Finis...ding Them.

• SPY EMERGENCY Pro. very good for Day to day Detection and Removal of Spyware,Trojan and Spam.
  

  Quote:GoTo : http://Will Post Link as soon as I Finis...ding Them.