Spyware

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What is spyware?

Spyware is a generic term used to describe a variety of programs designed to monitor the behaviour of users and report it back to a central location. Companies can then earn money selling this information to other parties.

Think of it like a company representative following you around all day to see where you go, and what you do. This information is then sold to the highest bidder. Generally, spyware only monitors things such as internet browsing and shopping habits. Of course, once spyware is installed on your machine, it could monitor anything. You just have to hope that whoever put it on your machine isn't malicious. Then again, if they weren't malicious, would they be installing garbage on your computer just to spy on you?

You can get more information on spyware here or free removal tutorials here. Free spyware removal programs are SpyBot S&D, Microsoft Anti-Spyware, and Ad-Aware SE.

Spyware is often included in 'free' P2P applications- hidden away in the installer, it gets put on your machine when you download and install the software. Some of the more recent spyware is very difficult to remove.

Shareaza does not contain any spyware.

But my antispyware application claims it found some spyware by Shareaza!

First, you have to make sure you got Shareaza from http://shareaza.sourceforge.net, and nowhere else. It's trivial for somebody to compile, bundle and distribute his own version of Shareaza with spyware. If you get it from sourceforge or compile it from cvs yourself, you can be certain it's spyware free.

Some so-called anti-spyware applications like Pestpatrol and Trend-Micro antispyware erreonously claim Shareaza is spyware, simply because they classify 'every' P2P application as spyware for some stupid reason. We recommend using a respected application like Spybot or AdAware. Both are free.