Southeastern Technical College

What is Spyware?

In easy terms, spyware is software that transmits personally identifiable information from your computer to some place in the internet without your specific knowledge. Spyware is typically not the product you install itself, but small add-ons, that you may or may not disable during install. In most cases, the EULA somewhere has a few lines telling you about privacy matters, but typically most users don't read the complete EULA and never know they got spyware on their system.

What is Adware?
A less threatening sort is adware. Adware is similar to spyware, but does not transmit personally identifiable information, or at least the collector promises not to sell it. Instead, aggregated usage information is collected. Adware is also often a side-effect of spyware, as both monitor you for a sole purpose – delivering you advertisements that are especially tailored to your habits.

What's the big deal?

Spyware and adware cause the following problems:

spyware and adware use your Internet bandwidth causing your Internet surfing to run slower
spyware and adware use processing power on your computer causing your computer to run slower
spyware and adware are notorious for causing your Internet browser to lock up
spyware and adware give you many more aggravating pop-up ads when you are online

What's the solution?

There are many different spyware/adware solutions on the market today. The IT Department has tested many of these applications and have found the following FREE utilities, when installed, run, and updated regularly will keep your computer free from spyware/adware.

After installing these utilities on your computer, you will find that your Internet surfing will be less cluttered with pop-up ads, your computer will run smoother and faster, and your computer will be more stable, reliable, and efficient.

Please note the IT Department does not offer support for these utilities.