These programs detected two types of software on my system. Data miners (which like the typical spyware program, collects information from you computer for marketing purposes) and malware. Malware is the shortened from of "malicious software". Now why in all hell would people who want to sell you stuff infect your computer with viruses, trojans and worms? It seems that they do not care about their potential customers. That explains why spyware and adware does so much damage.
Despite the huge effort that goes into making spyware and adware to use against us, advertisers and marketers probably have no idea that the information they get is biased. To sell their product, they only get information from people who visit certain sites, not from people who could actually use their programs. The waste is even greater when you start to consider the entire community or the potential consumer market. The simple fact is that the information they get is wrong and their entire efforts have been made in vain.
While spam e-mails were the technological enemy a few years ago, it seems that every day brings us closer to a war against spyware. Spyware is becoming the new cancer of the Internet. While huge sums of money and effort are spent in combating spam e-mails, the fight against spyware is not getting sufficient supplies by comparison. More must be done against this new enemy, for it is something that is already starting to become more serious than spam. Currently, spyware is the cancer, or influenza, of the Internet. Let's hope that one day, it becomes a polio.
NET LINKS:
Data Miner by Webopedia
Ad-aware
Spybot
Written on the 10th of July 2004
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