Are you tired of experiencing various situations with your computer, such as internet slowdowns, excessive pop-up windows, unfamiliar automatic changes to your web browser’s home page, or new programs that you don’t remember installing? These symptoms show that your computer might be infected with spyware.
With the right information and guidance, prevention from these spyware and malicious attacks shouldn’t be a headache at all. This guide written by the VSS Monitoring team will provide complete information regarding what spyware is and how you can protect yourself against it.
What Is Spyware and How Does It Attack Your Computer?
Spyware can be defined as a type of malicious software that will track your internet activity to gather private and sensitive information. The information can be credit card numbers, collect enough personal data from stealing someone’s identity or record the browsing habits to show personalized ads, etc.
Spyware makes its way into your computer in the form of a broad range of programs that often hide in the background of the computer. Some of the possibilities of getting infected by spyware are listed down below.
- The attacker installs it on your computer via a flash drive etc.
- You download content or software from an infected source.
- You open suspicious emails.
- You connect to a non-secure internet connection.
How to Reduce Chances of a Spyware Attack?
Malware has a continuously developing nature, and there really is no special tactic to completely protect yourself from it. However, there are some rules that can be followed in order to reduce the chances of a spyware attack.
- Use a Decent Security Suite with a Dedicated Anti-Spyware Tool
Choosing an antivirus that provides real-time monitoring and specific detection along with an option to remove the possibly detected spyware will be a killer deal as it would regularly scan for spyware and notify you as soon as it is detected.
- Restrain from Clicking on Unsolicited Ads
It is believed that a large proportion of the ads that are displayed online tend to contain spyware. Hence, restraining them from clicking on them would surely reduce the risk of infection.
- Go Through the Reviews Before Downloading Software’s
The best bet is to download software’s from their official websites. However, if you want to download it from some other website, it is advised to read the reviews before downloading it. This would inform you if the software is actually genuine or just another spyware attack.
How Can Spyware Be Removed?
If you notice the above-described symptoms and suspect that you’ve been infected by spyware, the first step would be to disconnect from the internet as the infection works by sending data back via the web. Once this is done, you can either remove it using software or manually.
In order to remove it via software, you can get a top-notch antivirus program that will perform a full scan of your computer, notify you about the possible spyware and then remove it. However, if you are aware of the root of the problem, you can remove it manually by uninstalling the program that caused it or deleting the file with which it came.