Tips for protecting your privacy on the Internet

ScumWare

If you see extra links or yellow links in web pages that you visit, you computer is probably infected with scumware. Scumware is software that adds links to web pages you open. It takes ordinary words and turns them into links to advertisers or other sites without the knowledge or permission of the site owner or user. Scumware is offered as a free Internet tool advertised to improve your surfing or is included and loaded on your computer as part of another program. Some of the most common scumware programs are TopText, Surf+ and Gator. Find out what scumware and how to remove it from your computer at scumware.com. This is not a commercial site - it is an informational site developed to increase awareness of this practice by advertisers to alter copywritten web content for monetary gain.

SpyWare

Spyware takes information about your surfing habits and sends this information to third party advertisers. Spyware is often included in "free Internet tools" or utilities, and is loaded without your knowledge or permission. It can also be downloaded to your computer when you visit a web site. Spyware programs will remain on your computer, even if you remove the original program. To remove these programs, you need to use a removal tool such as Ad-aware from Lavasoft. Lavasoft has a free version that can be downloaded and used to detect and remove SpyWare. If you run Ad-aware on your computer, you will likely be surprised by what it finds. It is almost guaranteed that you will find multiple spyware programs residing on your computer. They also have a pay version that can monitor your system and prevent spyware from being loaded on your computer. A couple of well known spyware programs are Go!Zilla, which touts itself as an Internet download manager, and Comet Cursor, which allows web sites to change the look of the cursor.

SpyWare article: SimplytheBest SpyWare Information