Inside Spyware: A Guide to Finding, Removing and Preventing Online Pests

Overview

Most computer users are aware of the dark side of the Internet. The online world brings issues of credit card and identity theft, junk mail and seedy content right into the homes and offices. But how many computer users are unwitting accomplices to such activities? EarthLink's SpyAudit program, which scanned 1,062,756 PCs, found 29.5 million instances of spyware, an average of nearly 28 spyware items per computer. How does this happen without one's knowledge? Together with programs called spyware, adware and viruses, trojans are a part of a group collectively known as "Malware" or "Pestware." While the majority of such programs are pests and nothing more, they have the potential to be quite nasty.