My PC Has Adware, What Should I Do?
Added 31 Jul 2008
I gotta tell ya, when I first got my computer when it was brand new, it worked like a charm! Then as I got a little bit more familiar with it, friends and family suggested I try some online applications. One was this cute purple ape that would help you surf the net.. or so I thought.
Turns out that damn application, along with a few others I installed, what were supposed to help increase my productivity, ended up doing exactly the opposite!
Sound familiar to you? Well, if so, then your not alone. Millions of computer users around the world have their PC’s infected with adware, and don’t even know it. What’s adware you say? Well, its any application that records what you do (or do not do) and reports that data back to third party vendors.
Now I know this sounds like covert ops stuff, but its really
big business. See, the truth of the matter is these advertisers
make a lot of money off of knowing your computer habits. Things
like, where you go, what you do, how long your there, where
you clicked, etc. Its kind of scary when you think about it.
They come up with the applications that are usually disguised
as innocent toolbars or programs that will show you the weather,
etc. Once you install these things, they leach and lurk throughout
your machine, slowing it down to no end.
They don’t care that you may have work to do, a report for school, or if your playing a game. Their job is to report back to their vendors what your doing, and how you do it. This way, these advertisers can come up with better targeted ads that will be used to get you to click on this link, or buy this product.
There is hope though, and it can return your computer back to you, the rightful owner. You can download to your PC some adware removal tools that will take out all of the know adware off your machine, and in the process, speed it up too.