Have you ever surfed the Internet and been bothered by the large number of pop-up advertisements which appear on your screen? Surprise, surprise! You could be the victim of another form of malicious software called spyware or adware. These little buggers sneak into your computer, monitor your computer usage, send this info to its master, and display advertisements tailored for you. A recent report from asia.internet.com warns about these mischief makers.

Unlike viruses or worms for which alerts are sent out by anti-virus vendors to warn us, most of us do not even know that spyware (also known as "adware") exists in our PCs. As its name suggests, we are not supposed to know these are spying on us.

In 'The Dangers of Spyware', Andri Post of Symantec, defines spyware programs as "applications that send information via the Internet to their publishers for marketing purposes without notification to users."

Most users are not aware that they have downloaded spyware or adware, because these programs are often 'secretly' bundled together with the 'real' freeware that the users are after. This freeware usually is in the form of games; media players; and even accounting software.

Once the spyware program is downloaded, it begins gathering demographic information about the user and may track what advertisements a user clicks on or what Web sites s/he visits. All this information, which is sent to the spyware publisher, needs to be uniquely identified and linked to a specific user installation.

The unique identifier must be stored on the user's PC, the two most commonly used methods are generating a GUID (Globally Unique IDentifier, which caused a flurry of privacy concerns when Microsoft introduced it with Windows98) and storing a cookie file on the hard disk during the installation of the spyware program. Every time the spyware program sends information to the spyware publisher, this unique identifier is sent as well, this allows the spyware publisher to update their customer database.

Although users usually cry foul when they realize that their PCs have been bugged, no legal actions can be taken against spyware companies as long as the actions of the spyware are noted in the End-User License Agreement (EULA) or by other means. Another notification method is for software publishers to set up Web sites that describe the information-gathering functionality of their software.

But many of these EULA are lengthy and ambiguous. Many requests have been made to spyware publishers to change the EULA or the products so that users understand what information is sent, when it is sent, and the purposes for which it is used.

So far, no improvements have been made. Under such circumstances, it is best not to click on just any 'I agree' tab when reading an ambiguous EULA. This will prevent your PC from being bugged and also help you avoid spyware that could create mischief on your PCs.

Although not all spyware is destructive in nature, it is better to be safe than sorry. The article 'The Trouble With Spyware', by Bill Webb, highlights some critical issues of spyware:

"Spyware ... has the capability to do anything any program can do, including monitor keystrokes, arbitrarily scan files on your hard drive, snoop other applications such as word-processors and chat programs, read your cookies, change your default homepage, interface with your Web browser to determine what Web sites you are visiting, and monitor various aspects of your on-line behavior, 'phoning home' from time to time to report this information back to the spyware's author."

Some adware companies have gone so far as to create 'Advertising Trojan Horses', virus-like software programs that stealthily install themselves on your computer to perform unwanted advertising functions and violate your privacy whether you've installed the advertising-supported software or not.

Spyware modules have been implicated in computer problems including system slowdown, illegal operation errors, browser crashes, and even the 'Blue Screen Of Death'. While normal system stability has usually returned when the interfering spyware modules were deleted, one spyware product in particular will disable your Internet access if you try to delete it!

Some spyware modules include a number of unsecure features, including so-called AutoInstall or AutoUpdate functions that can secretly download and install any arbitrary program on the user's system. This opens the door for further abuse of the system by malicious crackers or additional spyware programs!

Gathering customer information and user profiles is important in a world which preaches about targeting the right products at the right customers. That is why customer relationship management (CRM) is such a big, billion-dollar business whether it is in the US or Asia. However, spyware, or adware ought to evolve from its current practices of information gathering. It is the marketers' job to think of how they can obtain customers' information without being a nuisance and crippling a user's PC in some cases.

If you want to know more, these link to other Websites which discuss the companies behind spyware and how to remove spyware: