Ad-Aware "Anniversary Edition" (anti-spyware)
Spyware is software that monitors your actions clandestinely, and transmits usage information to a third source. Spyware can be downloaded to your computer while visiting particular websites without your knowing or pemitting it. The information collected could be Internet usage (used by advertisers) or worse, data like passwords and credit card information (identity theft). These programs can modify your browser's homepage, slow your system down, and even prevent you from browsing at all. At this point, school computers have not been hit by spyware, due probably to our firewall. If you take a school laptop home for Internet use, or want to protect your home computer, here is a FREE product designed to remove existing spyware.
Download and Installation
- Go to www.spychecker.com or www.download.com and download Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition to your Desktop
- Close your browser and double-click the Ad-Aware icon on your Desktop. Accept all defaults.
Use
- Run Ad-Aware at least once every two weeks. Check for updates each time. Above WEB UPDATE box, click the globe icon to get the latest definition file.
- To perform a scan, click the green button above SCAN SYSTEM. Click FULL SCAN. Click the green right arrow at the bottom of the screen.
- When the scan finishes, check SET SYSTEM RESTORE POINT and click the green button above PERFORM ACTIONS NOW. Do not change the Action setting of RECOMMENDED. I recommend you store the date of the scan in a file called RESTORE_POINTS. If your computer seriously malfunctions, you can return it to the state of a previous restore point.
-Scott Smith
May 2009
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