Spyware Essay -- Spyware Research Papers

Spyware I. Introduction Slowly but surely, the computer I use at home was getting slower and slower. Whenever I would connect to the Internet, simple tasks such as web browsing and checking e-mail would take longer amounts of time to complete than usual. Although my 56K modem was slow by today’s standards, I knew that it would not bottleneck the system while opening simple web sites such as Google. This was a shock to me since I pride myself on running a streamlined and clean computer. It was even more puzzling since the only continuously running program I allow is an Anti-Virus program. I checked the Windows Task Manager and to my surprise, my CPU usage was hovering around 80%, yet no other programs were running! I immediately started researching the problem on the Internet and quickly found the problem that matched my computer’s symptoms, spyware. I downloaded a spyware detection and removal utility; fortunately my problem was resolved. It detected three unique spyware programs runni ng on my computer and quickly removed them. My computer returned to normal operating speed and I felt safe knowing no more spyware was on my computer. II. What is Spyware? Spyware is the general term for â€Å"describing software whose purpose is to collect demographic and usage information from your computer, usually for advertising purposes. The term is also used to describe software that ‘sneaks’ onto the system or performs other activities hidden to the user.†1 Basically, spyware is a program that runs in the background of a computer, unbeknownst to the user, that has multiple abilities. The most non-intrusive task is using spyware as a form of copy protection. Intuit, the company that produces the popular tax program TurboT... ...eve Gibson, â€Å"The Anatomy of File Download Spyware,† Gibson Research Corporation, (4 March 2003). 6. Jason Anders, â€Å"Net Filter Spies on Kids’ Surfing,† Wall Street Journal, 25 January 2001, 1. 7. Jason Anders, â€Å"Net Filter Spies on Kids’ Surfing,† Wall Street Journal, 25 January 2001, 2. 8. George Lawton, â€Å"Invasive Software: Who’s Inside Your Computer?† Computer, July 2002, 15. 9. John Borland and Rachel Konrad, â€Å"PC Invaders Camp Out in Hard Drives,† Cnet News, 18 April 2002, (4 March 2003). 10. Ed Foster, â€Å"Sneakwrapping a Virus,† Infoworld, 4 November 2002, 64. 11. Staff Writer, â€Å"Sen. Edwards Intro’s ‘Spyware Control Act,’† Financial Times, 9 October 2000, 1. 12. Staff Writer, â€Å"Sen. Edwards Intro’s ‘Spyware Control Act,’† Financial Times, 9 October 2000, 1.