One of the craftiest computer crimes that actually downloads software to your computer to track your internet activity is spyware. One reason it is so clever is that spyware can actually download to your computer and you don't even know it just because you went to a strange website or ran some free program you thought was ok. One way spyware launches itself in your PC when you don't even know it is by "piggybacking" on a good program so the spyware starts secretly when you run something you like on your computer. Make no mistake that spyware and virus software is a threat and we should all be careful to run software that protects our computers against this clever threat and protects us from web sites that download spyware to our systems. It's important to know how to spot if you have a computer that has spyware on it. You have to be as clever as the spyware is because this dangerous software can transmit your internet activity and personal financial data out of your computer without ever knowing that it is happening. So be a smart internet citizen and know the signs of spyware so you can spot and remove it. Your PC is slow. The first way you will be able to discover that your computer has been struck by Spyware is as soon as you see a drop in its performance. Computers infected by this software move slower than normal since the software is usually running fiercely in the background to monitor what you are looking at and probably buy installing other software on your computer etc. So if you realize that suddenly your CPU is moving at a sluggish speed compared to what it was like, you will want to run a virus/anti-spyware program to find out if you have been infected unknowingly. Another very irritating little "trick" spyware often pulls is to "hijack" your browser to take you to web sites that the owners want you to see with the hopes you will buy their stuff at these sites. That merchandise is often a scam or something nasty or illegal so having that happen is pretty upsetting. But we can be assured that the reason for the spyware explosion is money. These sleazy online merchants should be boycotted at all costs as soon as you realize they are using spyware for their marketing. Not only that, as soon as you notice the weird behavior in your PC, use your scanning software to find the bad software and get rid of it. The very idea that the people behind spyware can actually capture all of your internet activity is pretty darn upsetting because of how it can victimize us. Because if they can capture your keystrokes of how you surf the net, they can also get your private financial data which can be used for fraud and identity theft. That threat alone makes it worth the effort of guarding against spyware. One of the reasons identify theft has become such an epidemic is because of how spyware can capture information about us while we are online. We have to remember that the internet is not a safe world and we have to be on guard. In fact, some spyware can become so deeply buried in your computer that it takes expert help to get it out of deep places in your system such as the registry settings. So be on guard by paying attention to strange things your PC might be doing. And be sure you download some quality anti-spyware and anti-virus software because better safe than sorry.
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