How to Determine If Spyware Is on your Computer
Spyware gathers information about computer users without their consent and then transfer this data to another entity without the person’s consent. Due to the growing use of internet these days, spywares also continue to spread at rapid pace. Internet is the number one medium for their spread and most of the spywares sneaks their way into a computer through a software download.
Spyware is classified in these major types; Trojan horses, adwares, cookies with the piggy backing feature and system monitor. All these softwares are installed directly to the computer without your consent when surfing the internet. However, there are some types of malware that are intentionally installed by people to steal personal information about users, for example key loggers.
All spywares are dangerous and annoying and you must keep your computer clean of them at all times. For that first you will have to determine if Spyware is present on your system or not.
Instructions
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1
Observe if your normal internal browsing is getting slower or not. Check out for any unwanted toolbars that may be installed without your permission. These toolbars display annoying advertisements and make internet surfing a lot slower.
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2
Go to Settings in your browser, and click on toolbars to identify all toolbars installed on your computer. One of the indicators of spyware presence on the system are the windows that pop up randomly when browsing the Internet. Some other symptoms are the flickering of your screen, applications are taking ages to load, and some random changes to your browser and desktop settings.
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3
Download and install a malware search tool on your computer. You may either install the Microsoft Malicious software scanner or get your hands on a third party application for scanning your computer. It will scan the whole computer and display all detected spywares. However, it will not remove the spywares itself, you may either have to manually remove them or install an Antivirus for that purpose.
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4
There are many spyware prevention programs that stop them from causing any effects to your computer. The complete solution for all PC problems, though, is an Antivirus suite. Purchase a paid subscription of any antivirus program, and keep its virus definitions updated at all times.
