Spyware and adware are problems for just about every user of the internet whether they use a more common or a less common internet service provider and whether or not they use paid or free email providers.  Adware and spyware simply don’t discriminate, and what’s more, they can attack from all angles.  Fortunately, Microsoft, as well as antivirus programs, has enhanced features to stop pop-ups and to inhibit spyware and adware from infiltrating your computer system.  The good news about MySpace is that MySpace, itself, is safe from adware and spyware.  The bad news is that some advertisers advertising on MySpace are NOT safe from adware and spyware.

What this means is that crazy viruses and Trojans will not attack you simply by using the main features of MySpace; however, if you surf from MySpace, the rest of the network is not so safe.  For example, if you see an ad on MySpace that looks interesting to you, for whatever reason, and you click on it, you have to know that the ads are coming from a different server than from the MySpace server.  As soon as you navigate from MySpace to one of the ads featured on MySpace, you are no longer on the ‘safe’ site that MySpace likes to pride itself in being.  This is not MySpace’s problem, as technically, you are surfing away from their page.  However, when MySpace becomes aware that one of their ads is coming up as a spyware or adware problem, they take immediate action to start getting the problematic ad removed from their site.  In this manner, you can expect advertisers with consistent negative track records to be removed from the website, but you just might be one of the hapless few who happen to click on an advertisement by this advertiser before knowing that this one is sending out spyware.

It’s easy to imagine how this cycle perpetuates itself because makers of spyware and adware pay people per installation of adware and spyware to computers.  These types of files send information back to the server pertaining the number of times that they’ve been installed, which corresponds, however insane this is, to someone getting a paycheck as the causer of all this misery.  Since spyware is paid per installation, you can imagine that the goal is to get advertisements that have spyware onto sites that get a lot of traffic.  The more traffic a site gets, the more likely there is to be people who will click on the ads.  Of course, the ad doesn’t tell you that it’s eating the brain out of your computer as soon as you’ve clicked on the ad and its dirty work has begun.  Although myspace takes serious steps very quickly once they’ve found out that spyware is coming from a certain advertisement, for some of us, myspace’s action comes much too late.

The best way that you can protect yourself and your computer from such nasty spyware and adware is to simply be a conscientious Internet user.  This means two things: the first is getting your internet browser up to date so that it’s able to resist spyware.  Alternatively, you can start using Firefox.  The other very serious, but pretty easy thing that you can do is to simply stay away from all those ads and unsolicited information online.  Stick to trusted sites and don’t go clicking everything that looks interesting.  Although it just might be interesting, you won’t be happy with the onslaught of pop-ups and the subsequent inability of your computer to do just about anything.  Resisting the urge to aimlessly surf might not be easy in the beginning, but it’s a good practice to get into the habit of doing.

Related posts:

1. An Overview of Layout Issues with MySpace Pages
2. Defining the MySpace Proxy
3. General Safety Tips Everyone Should Know When Using MySpace
4. How NOT to Get Hooked During a Phishing Trip on MySpace.com
5. Easy to Learn Ways of Adding Music to your MySpace Page

Tags: Spyware and Ad ware in MySpace

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