Don’t Let Adware Snag You – Measures to Stay Safe!

Unwanted display ads in the form of banners, sudden popup windows flashing commercials, redirected search requests to advertising websites, and so on – It’s an everyday story for internet users. But do you know that these displays are software that compromises your privacy and security? Better known with the name Adware, these programs steal information by monitoring your browsing activities and then use this data to deliver more focused advertising content.

How Adware make its presence on your PC?

Most of the adware comes with freeware and shareware programs that you download on your computer. Another major source of adware is infected websites that automatically install unauthorized software on your PC when you visit them.

Adware Removal – Protecting Yourself against Threats

A majority of Adware programs run unnoticed on your computer and you may not find any uninstallation procedure for their removal. For some people, this is just a ‘nuisance’, while many others consider it as an ‘online threat’ and are looking for ways to deal with it. Here are some effective ways to help you out:

Do Not Ignore Licensing Agreements

Usually, people just scroll down to the bottom of the page and this is where this form of malware plays its game. Whenever you install any software on your computer, do spare a few seconds to look at the agreements and see what all the software is going to do. Look whether it will be performing any information gathering activity or not. And if it does, there’s probably going to be an adware coming along with it.

Avoid Clicking on Advertisements

Clickable advertisements that are flashing every now and then on your computer screens should be a complete NO-NO. These ads could possibly lead to the installation of malicious programs.

Do Not Download Randomly

It is important to stay alert whenever you download something on your PC. Choosing a source which you haven’t heard about could cause a serious breach to your online privacy.

Detect and Remove Adware

Installing adware removal tool on your device is an effective measure to keep malware at bay. These programs intelligently scan for malicious software and detect them in no time. Thus, you can easily remove infectious programs from your device with the help of an anti-adware program.

Almost a decade back, adware in the form of ‘potentially unwanted programs’ were found on 129.5 million machines, as found in a study done by Microsoft. With the rising threats on the internet, this form of malware doesn’t seem to be going away soon. However, by implementing these protective measures, you can decide what comes in and goes out of your computer.