Internet Support

You may have seen unusual emails in your inbox from somebody you don't know or the email has a subject that is unknown. In most instances that email will be either Spam or a Virus. A Computer Virus is software that is designed to harm your computer. There are many different types of viruses that can harm your computer in many different ways, from corrupting or deleting data to erasing your entire hard drive.

Most viruses are spread through email or are attached to web pages. This is why it is important to have an up-to-date form of virus protection. It is also important to keep yourself informed of new viruses and updates. There are many places you can get the latest information, two reliable websites are McAfee and Symantec

Spyware and Adware are software that is downloaded to your computer without your knowing or your permission. As Viruses do, they come in many forms and do many things. Spyware is any kind of software that sends information to a 3rd party without your permission. Adware is software that causes banners or pop-ups to appear on your computer.

While they many not seem as dangerous, both of these forms of software can cause many different problems, both for you and your computer.

• Consuming System Resources: Adware & Spyware are software, which means that they are actually small programs that are running on your computer whether you know it or not. They use up RAM and other system resources, causing the programs you DO want to run to slow down because they are not able to take full advantage of resources.
  
  
• Reduces Stability of Your Computer: Because these forms of software aren't tested very well, they are full of programming errors causing them to slow down your computer or cause Internet Explorer to lock up or slow down, they can even cause your entire computer to lock up.
  
  
• Pop-Ups: Most Adware and some Spyware cause the pop-up windows that you see. For example, even if you aren't doing anything but playing a game of solitaire, Internet Explorer windows with ads or other banners may appear.
  
  
• Broken Websites: Spyware and some Adware can actually change the content on a web page, causing the page to not appear correctly or sometimes not at all, giving you error messages such as "page cannot be displayed" or "cannot find server"
  
  
• Changing Your Home Page: Spyware can actually change your homepage, so when you open up Internet Explorer, a new site will come up instead of the usual one. Spyware can also add new links to your Favorites.
  
  
• Loss of Privacy: Most types of Spyware report things such as information you type, what types of sites you visit, and various other things about you personally.

Managing Adware and Spyware can be very difficult since this software is installed automatically on your computer without your knowledge or permission. While it is virtually impossible to prevent this software from being installed, there are several programs available for their removal. Alma Communications Company recommends updating all definitions (Spyware, Adware, and Antivirus) at least once a week to maintain internet security. If you have more then one user on your computer, you will need to run the programs in each of the users profiles. Please visit our Software Support page for links to several spyware/adware removal programs that are available to download for Free.