The next time you turn on your computer, you notice the same problem. A new homepage again. You feel perplexed. It's taking twice as long for everything to load and you can't seem to get rid of that weird homepage that's full of advertisements. You run your antivirus program and it tells you that you don't have any viruses. You decide to update your antivirus definitions and re-run the scan. Still nothing.
You, my friend, have been infected with Adware. Adware (Advertising Software), also known as Malware (malicious software), or spyware (Spying Software) or even Badware (self explanatory) are programs that invade your computer. They take up your resources, slow you down and flood your screen with advertisements or takeover your homepage and offer you free offers, free downloads, huge discounts and other things.
Why would Adware want to take over your homepage with a different URL? Well, many affiliate programs exist to pay people to sign up for offers, provide leads of cookies or e-mail addresses and other information to companies for their marketing use. Some sites pay affiliates per page impression on their site or per click and so some of these affiliates will do things to net themselves more income in these programs such as force other individuals to participate in the program. One way to do this is to reset your homepage to a page full of their advertisements in the hope that you click and earn them income.
Spyware programs can erase these programs for you. Why buy a program like this when you can download anti-spyware programs for free? It's a known fact that some programs claiming to be anti-Spyware programs from shareware sites are in fact Spyware programs or Malware programs themselves. Always be cautious about what you're installing on your computer. Running Anti-Spyware programs has become as important as installing Antivirus programs and keeping definitions up to date. The Internet is a great place full of loads of information and tools to make life more fun but there are a number of dishonest individuals out there looking to expose your computer to the world and steal your information. Be wary and if you notice any unusual things on your computer such as poor performance, be sure to run a good anti-Spyware program.
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