Your Computer, Spyware and Being a Good Person
[ad#250 x 250 Sqr Adsense]
Most people who own a computer are aware of the dangers posed various types of malware or spy-ware being installed on their computer. Whilst we can all look at this as a form of privacy violation or even a crime crime in most places it has further ramifications beyond the risk to your own personal information.
Spyware is software that can be installed onto a computer by an outside source and used to collect personal and other valuable information stored. It also allows whoever installed it to partially or totally control your computer. This means that while doing anything online such as searches or making payments your actions may be tracked and recorded and even your financial transactions hijacked.
Programs known as key-loggers can even record and later interpret every keystroke you make to reveal financial details and secret password.
To avoid this you should use security measures such as firewalls and anti-virus software which can prevent intrusion and block access to websites known to install spy-ware. Another sensible security measure against spy-ware is making sure that you only download from sites that are trusted and secure. One of the most common sources of spy-ware is through software downloads from dubious websites. The best way to prevent spy-ware is to purchase trusted anti spy-ware software program designed for this express purpose.
Now I know a lot of people may read this and think it all sounds a bit hard and why bother anyway. Well in answer to that there comes the question of responsibility and just being a good person.
I have discussed so far the dangers that spy-ware present to you personally and yes, that is good enough reason for you to take action. But there is another way of looking at it.
You see a computer connected to the internet is not like your TV or toaster. If they malfunction or get broken they are not going to walk down the street to your neighbour’s house and attack your neighbour’s TV or toaster! All they going to do is sit there quietly doing nothing because they are broken.
Your computer is not like that. If you fail to take adequate precautions to protect yourself and your computer and it does get infected something very different happens. It is more than likely that your computer WILL contact another computer, and another, and another and infect those computers in just the same way.
In fact, there is a good chance that any infection your computer gets is the result of someone else just like you failing to take basic measures to prevent intrusion. So please, be nice and leave the internet in a condition that is a little better than when you found it.
[ad#inpost]
