Spyware, adware and malware are three types of software that advertisers and vendors are installing on PC's without the customer's permission. Advertisers collect information about the customer's website visits in order to target the PC with advertisements that the customer is more likely to purchase as part of a marketing driven endeavor. Most of these get installed from visiting websites and downloading free software like screen savers and games. Although this type of software does not usually damage the PC; it affects the performance of the PC, requiring cleanup to bring the PC back to normal operation. Sometimes PC's lose their Internet connectivity due to malicious software.

Antivirus programs do not remove this type of software since it is not considered a virus. MU currently uses two free utilities to remove spyware from your system. Ad-Aware® and Spybot - Search & Destroy are two very useful cleaning utilities. They have to be manually updated to get the latest spyware definitions. Users must also manually initiate a scan of the system to search for spyware to be removed. Information on how to obtain either of these antivirus programs can be found on the SafetyNet webpage.

One professional purchased product that will automatically update and scan the PC is Counter Spy™.

• This product automatically performs updates to the program and can be set up to scan the PC daily and clean it up
• " There is an annual fee for this product
• MU does not license this product for the campus.

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