Get Rid Of Adware
What are Adware?
Adware are basic software programmed to display unwanted advertisements, banners and pop-ups through your web browser. Adware can be very harmful for your computer. It can cause your system to slow down extremely, block your internet access or may even lead to identity theft.
How do they work?
Adware are generally downloaded without your knowledge. Most of the times they are downloaded on the computer piggybacked with some other software (mostly free software and peer to peer software) that you install on your computer. So when you are running these free software on your computer, the attached Adware is also running in the background.
Why do they even exist?
Adware are used by software manufacturers to increase revenue. Software manufacturers are paid by the advertising companies, other freeware manufactures or other websites to display there advertisements when the software is installed on your computer.
Why are the dangerous?
While most Adware only slow down your computer and bug you with unwanted pop-ups, other advanced Adware monitor your computer habits and create a custom profile. This profile decides what advertisements would display or your computer.
The information collected by these Adware is not only used to display advertisements based on your taste but is also sold or shared with third party websites. Some Adware may also trick you into installing them by pop-ups that look like Microsoft alerts or errors.
Preventing Adware
Keep your Antivirus, Firewall and Operating System updated. Whenever new security loop holes are identified, Operating system and Antivirus manufacturers come up with security patches that fix the system’s vulnerability to Adware.
Adjust you internet browser security settings, for example in case of Internet Explorer – Select Medium security or above in Internet Zone settings.
In case you are installing a free software, carefully read the “License Agreement” as mostly it mentions if there is a Adware being installed at the same time. The license agreement may also tell you what information is the Adware going to utilize from your computer and if that would be shared or sold with other companies.
Removing Adware from your computer
Like always, prevention of Adware is better than cure. However, if you find out that your computer is infected with Adware then you may do the following:
To remove known Adware programs, you can simply uninstall them using the utilities available in the operating system. For Windows, you can go to Add/Remove program utility under control panel to remove the Adware.
Some advanced Adware may not appear using the Utilities provided by the operating system. For these Adware, you need to run an Antivirus or an Adware removal program. Update your protection software and disconnect your computer from the internet. Now run the Adware removal or Antivirus scan and restart your computer. To ensure removal, you can run another scan with these software.
