Spyware is not something to be taken lightly. Every year millions of dollars are just washed down the drain by companies and individuals fighting this menace. Spyware, apart from being a nuisance, can also inflict damage on you by keeping track of browsing history and steal your credit card information. It is thus highly prudent to be aware of the enemy. Here are some of the most potent spywares and their traits courtesy FaceTime Security Labs.

1. Gator – Normally these are installed by users like you as a password vault. This helps in recalling passwords automatically when you visit some sites. However, frequent pop-ups as and when you visit certain sites would have to be put up with. This spyware would be highly annoying to a frequent user. The maker of Gator, has provided some relief by labelling the pop-up ads, but Gator continue to be annoying for the users.

2. CoolWebSearch - This has to be one of the most notorious browser hijackers out there. This is the name given to a train with many different variants that redirect users to  coolwebsearch.com or datanotary.com. Spyware removal can be very byzantine. Users shouldn’t try manually to eliminate this software.

180SearchAssistant is another one of those pranksters that is bent on offering you pop ups of sites resembling your search keyword. Emoticons and wallpaper come as addition gift wraps along with this software. Newer version, however, offer some respite with their add/remove program and uninstall features.

Huntbar can be as frustrating as they get. Huntbar has a modus operandi by which it creates its own toolbar on the internet explorer. Using any other search engine proves futile too as it will keep directing the user to its own page. Furthermore, it ends up changing the home page as well as the search engine setting, which leads the users to their server every time they use the search engine. And to add insult to injury, it drains the memory by 15%.

5. Cydoor – When you get a P2P, that is , peer to peer software, you may also get Cydoor along. This software also pops up number of advertisements with great annoying effect. It will also track usage information from your machine.

6. ISTbar - Yet another finicky, redundant piece of software. ISTbar does “hammer-by” induct    via ActiveX and javascript. Basically, that means that you holiday a locate and it tries to invest itself to your processor. Nice, huh. The Activex control installs a toolbar that pushes information to my-internet.info and blazefind.com.

7. WhenU-DesktopBar - Displays advertising matter. Monitors internet traffic, collects search profiles, and can kill program from an isolated attendant with its modernize mark only. Relevant searches may instigate it to pageant a unique propose, token, or othe advertising content. The adware may also ceremony advertisements.

New.net must be exterminated without a blink of an eye. It specialises in selling non-standard top domain names.

9. IEPlugin - As the name implies, it installs a toolbar in Internet Explorer. It tracks web    site custom, form substance (like names, addresses, etc. - i.e., Yikes!), and narrow filenames that are browsed. It’s invasive - remove it.

BargainBuddy was once an infamous and ubiquitous program. Distributed by BullzEye Network, it would set up browser Helper Object to keep an eye on the system. It would study the keywords being used and would send advertisement your way based on that.

Technorati Tags: , , ,