Studying the effects of spyware

EllenH

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Hi everyone,

Well, I'm a grad student at Strayer University, and my term paper for this semester is studying the technological and financial effects of spyware on computer systems. Soo... if some of you would be so kind to participate & help me out, I would REALLY appreciate it.

So if you'd like to help me out..... just answer these couple of questions for me.

First of all, when your computer is infected by spyware, what technological problems does it cause for your computer systems (popups, corrupted files, system crashes, etc)


and secondly.... have you been forced to spend money to fix these problems... and if so, approximately how much?

Thanks SO much, I really appreciate it. Any other input/insight that you might have for me would be much appreciated as well.

Ellen
 
Many spyware programs are written so that, if you try to remove them, they can repair
themselves. Some distribute their files throughout your hard disk in different locations, to
make it harder to find and delete all of their components.

Some spyware turns your business or personal computer into a server that can serve up the data stored on your computer to other computers over the Internet.

Spyware often affects system performance. Like any software,
spyware uses system resources, and consequently those resources are not available for other, desirable programs.

some
advertising companies have created their own Trojans that install themselves without the
user installing another associated program. These can operate in "stealth mode,"
making them difficult to detect, and can even be written to appear to the operating
system like a Windows system process so you can't terminate it.

According to a recent report from IDC, consumers and businesses are expected to
spend approximately $305 million on efforts to detect and eliminate spyware. That's just
the cost of implementing antispyware solutions; it does not include the significant costs
in decreased network performance, employee time and lost productivity caused by the
plethora of spyware programs that infest users' systems.

Personally though I have spent nothing to fix these problems because I make sure they dont arise but hope this helps any :D
 
here is a very helpfull link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware

spyware pretty much just uses system resources, and can steal some info. Usually all the pop up ads come from adware, though I guess some spyware programs also produce them.
As for the money, at least I haven't spent anything since there are lots of free anti-spyware programs. And I mostly use linux so no need for anti-spyware programs.
And some AV companies offer packages that include firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware. I think that's a great way of selling anti-spyware stuff because most people would not buy it separate.
 
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