What do I have for you today? I thought Id talk about Spyware. Many people confuse spyware with a virus, and virus or (virii) with spyware. While many have overlapping areas, generally they are two distinct categories

Spyware removers such as Adaware and Spybot Search & Destroy break the Spyware & Adware down into categories; these categories are then used in a threat assessment after the scan is run. Ill include some typical categories and a short description of each.

Adware
This is designed to display advertising to the user that the user may not be aware of or want to see. Most often this form of Adware is included in freeware bundles or as additional (and/or required) content with shareware. Adware is generally relatively harmless, and more of a nuisance than a danger to you computer, if you remove some forms of Adware from your system, certain programs you have downloaded (the ones that brought the Adware on your system) may stop functioning. Your choice then is to put up with the Adware or usually pay for an Ad free version of that program

Annoying Ware?
This is Adware that causes multitudes of pop ups and assorted hard to stop windows and this is forcing you to put up with adverts you dont want. This also will slow your system down and drive you mad trying to close all the windows etc and as soon as you close one another pops up. Annoying to the extreme!

Data Mining
This is an application that companies that supply software and games etc, designed to collect information about the user and does so aggressively. This data is then often stored on your system to be transmitted without detection next time you use that piece of software from the company. The data then is used to provide demographics, targeted advertising and in some cases even personal data

Dialer
The application is designed to change the user's Dial Up Networking settings to dial numbers that the user does not know about, to connect to a number in stealth, and/or to avoid being detected by the user such as dialling expensive connections where the user has not authorized the connection.

Hijacker
These applications are designed to hijack the user's home page, HOSTS file, browser favourites, chosen search engine, and/or system settings.

Exploit
The application employs the use of a software or system exploit to install and/or operate.

Malware
These are malicious software designed to do harm to a user's system or to other systems that is not specifically a VIRUS.

Monitoring Tool
This category includes remote access Trojans (RATs), Root Kits, etc.

MRU
This is a listing of the Most Recently Used lists stored in your registry. They are harmless and consist only of things such as the most recent document you opened.