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Top 5 Ways You Know You are Infected with Spyware
- By Paul McDonald
- Published August 11, 2008
- Spyware and Viruses
- Unrated
Paul McDonald
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We've all heard of or read about the horror stories of how spyware has ruined somebody's PC or that they had to eventually reload their entire computer because of it, but how do you really know if your computer is infected with spyware?
Here are the top 5 tell tale ways that you'll know your computer is infected with spyware.
1. Your computer is inundated with popups.
When you are on the internet and you keep getting pop up after pop up and you just can't seem to close them fast enough, that is a good sign you have a spyware infection. However, the real tell tale sign here is that you are getting all kinds of popups even when you are not actively on the internet and you don't have your internet browser open. If you are seeing this on your computer, you likely are infected with spyware.
2. Your computer is painfully slow
The most notorious spyware symptom out there - when you try and do anything on your computer and you feel like it might be easier to watch paint dry. It gets even more fun when you try to close the programs you have tried to open but you can't - and then your whole computer locks up.
3. Your browser's home page is different and you can't change it back
This is one of my favorite symptoms - when you open up your internet browser and instead of seeing MSN, Comcast, or whatever your home
page is set to you instead go right to some shopping site or free software website. That is a dead giveaway that your computer is infected with spyware.
4. You have programs installed that you don't remember installing
Every once in a while you should open up your Control Panel, go to Add/Remove Programs and if you see things like 123SearchAssistant or ShopWithMe or Casino Client, then you should uninstall these immediately as they are spyware.
5. You see additional icons on your desktop that you know you didn't put there
Again, just as with step 4 above if you see strange icons that appear on your desktop, NEVER click on them. Most of the time they'll try to entice you with a free trial offer or something to that effect, but 99% of the time these unwanted icons mean that you are already infected with spyware (not to mention that clicking on the icons will most likely lead you to downloading more spyware). Delete these unwanted items from your desktop and empty your recycling bin and then run an spyware scan.
If you have spyware that has infected your PC, most of the time you'll notice something different on your computer such as the new icons or strange homepage. However, other times you'll have no idea that spyware is installed on your computer and that is when it becomes the most dangerous. The only way you can truly find out whether or not your computer has become infected with spyware is to run a proven and effective antispyware program.
Here are the top 5 tell tale ways that you'll know your computer is infected with spyware.
1. Your computer is inundated with popups.
When you are on the internet and you keep getting pop up after pop up and you just can't seem to close them fast enough, that is a good sign you have a spyware infection. However, the real tell tale sign here is that you are getting all kinds of popups even when you are not actively on the internet and you don't have your internet browser open. If you are seeing this on your computer, you likely are infected with spyware.
2. Your computer is painfully slow
The most notorious spyware symptom out there - when you try and do anything on your computer and you feel like it might be easier to watch paint dry. It gets even more fun when you try to close the programs you have tried to open but you can't - and then your whole computer locks up.
3. Your browser's home page is different and you can't change it back
This is one of my favorite symptoms - when you open up your internet browser and instead of seeing MSN, Comcast, or whatever your home
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4. You have programs installed that you don't remember installing
Every once in a while you should open up your Control Panel, go to Add/Remove Programs and if you see things like 123SearchAssistant or ShopWithMe or Casino Client, then you should uninstall these immediately as they are spyware.
5. You see additional icons on your desktop that you know you didn't put there
Again, just as with step 4 above if you see strange icons that appear on your desktop, NEVER click on them. Most of the time they'll try to entice you with a free trial offer or something to that effect, but 99% of the time these unwanted icons mean that you are already infected with spyware (not to mention that clicking on the icons will most likely lead you to downloading more spyware). Delete these unwanted items from your desktop and empty your recycling bin and then run an spyware scan.
If you have spyware that has infected your PC, most of the time you'll notice something different on your computer such as the new icons or strange homepage. However, other times you'll have no idea that spyware is installed on your computer and that is when it becomes the most dangerous. The only way you can truly find out whether or not your computer has become infected with spyware is to run a proven and effective antispyware program.