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Article:
Everything You Need To Know About Spyware and Malware by: Mike Christy You are at your computer, checking out software on EBay. The computer is really sluggish, and you are not running anything else. You click on a link, and BLAM you are redirected to a search page you've never heard of and the 'back'¯ button won't work. You've got Spyware! Just what is 'Spyware?'¯ The word brings to mind exploding pens and shoe phones. In fact, software makers have struggled to define what spyware is, and is not. The Anti-Spyware Coalition, a group of companies that include EarthLink, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard, have recently published a document that defines spyware as such: 'Spyware impairs users control over material changes that affect their user experience, privacy or system security; use of their system resources, including what programs are installed on their computers; or collection, use and distribution of their personal or otherwise sensitive information'¯ In simpler terms, spyware 'spies'¯ the software on your computer, personal information, what web pages you look at, and in some cases, usernames and passwords. Ugh. The first spyware distribution was in '1999
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