With thousands of malicious programs floating around on the internet, there is certainly a good chance that you'll get infected with some form of spyware eventually. In order to reduce the risk of you getting infected, it is important to look at how spyware gets on your machine and what you can do about it.
First off, the most common way of infection is through direct downloads. This can come in one of two ways. The first is harmful programs that pretend to do something like give you a free screensaver, give you the chance at winning free money or promise to speed up your computer, that are in reality nothing but malicious programs that slow your computer down.
A common method unethical companies use to put harmful computers on your computer is through pop-up ads that look very similar to windows warning messages, with “OK” and “cancel” buttons. Less experienced people tend to think the message is coming from their own computer, and click “OK” and end up downloading the malicious software. Pop-up ads like this are rather common and often promise to speed up your machine, or claim that you have new messages. You should be very skeptical when you see things like this.
The second form of direct download infection is spyware that comes bundled with other programs. Unethical companies will often pay shareware developers to include their spyware in the software, so that you can get infected even if you are downloading a legitimate program.
The second main way in which you can get infected is through exploits. What are exploits? Well, simply put, they are glitches in your version of Windows or Internet Explorer that allow dangerous programs to get on your computer. Adware downloaded through exploits is more subtle than programs that get on your computer through direct downloads, and so in the majority of cases, you will never even know you have it. The spyware will run in the background without you ever knowing about it.
Because the software is fairly complex, there are a number of exploits in different versions of internet explorer that let spyware makers infect your machine. Some websites still exist that are able to change your settings, just by you visiting the website. Other websites you visit can do things like add things to your favourites menu, drop icons on your desktop and even change your homepage, just by you visiting the website.
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Brad Edwards is a programmer for DisableSpyware.com. He has over 10 years of experience with computers and spyware.
