What You Need To Know About Adware And Adware Stoppers

By: Jackson Summers

What is Adware?

Adware is software application incorporated into or bundled with
a program, and when installed, display or download advertising
material to a computer. Adware is usually a method used by many
programmers to recover development costs when a software program
is provided free of charge, or at a low cost. Adware can drain
the computer's resources, spy on user's surfing habits,
adversely affect Internet connection speed, and even redirect
web browsers without permission. Owing to this, a host of adware
stoppers has sprung up, which clean an infected system and
prevent new infestations with real-time protection, and becoming
some of the most downloaded programs on the internet.

Adware, Malware, and Spyware:

The three terms, and related terms such as adware stoppers,
spyware removers etc, are often very easy to confuse since the
concepts overlap. Adware is usually installed with the user's
consent and comes with an uninstaller, while spyware installs
itself without permission and can be almost impossible to
completely uninstall without assistance. Spyware is intended to
track, report, and re-sell user's activity and information
without consent, and malware refers to a worse form of spyware
in which the operation and functioning of other software
applications can be negatively affected. The problem of
distinction occurs, for example, when an adware that comes with
a tracking feature, when activated by the user, becomes a
spyware. So, an adware stopper can also refer to a program that
prevents an adware application from performing spyware
activities.

Well-known Adware Programs and Adware Stoppers:

Some of the most well-known adware programs include 123
Messenger, 180 Solutions, Bonzi Buddy, ClipGenie, Comet Cursor,
Cydoor, Direct Revenue, Ebates MoneyMaker, Gator, PornDigger,
WinFixer, Hotbar, ErrorSafe, and Smiley Central.

Popular adware stoppers, which have been around for a couple of
years include NoAdware, ErrorDoctor, Spynukker and PC-Cillin.

Top Adware Stoppers:

PC World evaluated ten existing adware stoppers and anti-spyware
utilities devised to detect and get rid of spyware and adware
from computers, based on -

* rates of detection, * scanning speed, * ability to prevent
unwanted applications from installing themselves, * and ease of
use

Seven spyware/adware stoppers in the price range of $20 to $40
were noted for their outstanding performances, which include

1. Allume Systems' Internet Cleanup, 2. McAfee's AntiSpyware, 3.
Computer Associates' ETrust PestPatrol Anti-Spyware, 4.
InterMute's SpySubtract Pro, 5. Aluria Software's Spyware
Eliminator, 6. Webroot Software's Spy Sweeper 7. Sunbelt
Software's CounterSpy, and

Three other adware stoppers, which are available for free, were
also tested and found to be equally effective. These include
Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE Personal, Safer Networking's Spybot
Search and Destroy, and http://Merijn.org's HijackThis.
However, HijackThis was not included in the charts because it
does not scan for infections. Microsoft's new Windows
AntiSpyware was the only product in beta that was tested.

About the author:
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