What is Spyware

What is Spyware?

Spyware is software that usually secretly collects information about a computer user. By collecting information in this way, a usage profile can be compiled. This information is very valuable for external parties to make money from. Spyware ‘spies’ therefore, in effect, a computer user and records everything they do. It can carry great risks in terms of privacy violation.

Spyware is a favorite tool for advertisers

Spyware is often linked to other programs’s. Once you download and install such a program, then the spyware also enters your computer unnoticed. The spyware then starts collecting information. Advertisers use this information to advertise in the most targeted way possible. The more they know about you, the better the advertisements are tailored to your preferences and needs.

Spyware and crime

Not only advertisers use spyware. Criminals use spyware to steal sensitive information, data and files, among other things. Often a user does not notice the presence of spyware. It runs subtly in the background to avoid detection. This also means that many computers are infected with spyware without users realizing it. In fact, more than 50% of computers are infected with some form of spyware.

Spyware can be contracted, among other things, by downloading an illegal copy of a program. Through torrent networks you can download cracked versions of Photoshop, for example, but often a hacker has built in a ‘backdoor’ or ‘spyware’. The program usually works, but unnoticed you re installing spyware as well. This brings risks’with it.

Diagnose and remove spyware

It is best to perform a spyware check with some regularity. This will allow you to detect and remove any spyware. A spyware check with a special program is also the easiest way to discover if you may have spyware on your system. Some anti-spyware programs’s you permanently in the background. This way you avoid downloading and installing Spyware.

Good (paid) anti-spyware software that you can find at:

• Malwarebytes
• Bitdefender

Free anti-spyware can be found from the following suppliers:

• Emsisoft
• Adaware
• Spybot
• Brightfort (Spyware Blaster)
• Malwarebytes (free version)