What is Adware?

Is your system continuously showing advertisements each time you browse the internet? Most probably you are infected by ADWARE.

Find out more about it below.

Adware is a malware designed by developers to show advertisements. It shows popups and sometimes the advertisements don’t even close. It is installed by a pirated or some untrusted software, emails, Etc. unknowingly by the user, Adware are mostly annoying rather than malicious. thus, generates revenue for the developer by showing advertisements.

Is Adware really Harmful?

Mostly adware is rather annoying than harmful but there are some adware which are malicious which are called spyware. This is a software that can steal very confidential and sensitive information without you actually knowing about it. Your system can be infected by a technique of malvertising. Malvertising is a technique that uses online advertisements to spread malware. These advertisements will look genuine but will be infected by malware.

What operations can a malicious adware perform in your system?

Install unwanted files in your system.
Tracking your movements on the internet.
Collecting sensitive information. Eg: passwords, bank account details, keystrokes, emails, etc.
Sending the stolen or collected information to an external server. (This is mostly controlled by a hacker.)
Installing more malicious softwares on your system.
Redirecting to unwanted or malicious websites.
Change your homepage to something unwanted.
Reduce your internet connection speed.

Common Adware in the world

There are numerous kinds of adwares in the world. The most common adwares are:

1. Fireball:

Fireball was is news in 2017 where it infected over 250 million computers. It was developed by a Chinese digital marketing agency. It affected over one-fifth of corporate networks all over the world. though, was injected by softwares made by Rafotech. however, takes over your browser, floods it with ads, changes your search engine with a fake one, changes your homepage and it prevents you from changing the browser settings.

2. DollarRevenue:

DollorRevenue was developed in the Netherlands in 2005 and it infected more than two million systems all over the world. It was among the first major adwares to infect millions of systems worldwide. This would install its toolbar to monitor the searches of the victim and it also gives pop up ads and browser ads. Although now it is inactive for a long time now.

3. DeskAd:

DeskAd is thus a very sneaky adware. so, It starts out very gradually and overtime it starts to show its symptoms and takes control over your system. It changes the system files, redirects your web requests, displays ads through the browser, replicates files and installs unwanted applications. After it has taken over the system it can only be removed by reinstalling the operating system.

How can you avoid Adware?

Don’t click on links in unwanted or unknown emails.

You don’t know who has sent you the email but you find certain links or attachments to it which can be harmful. Just because the subject line appears to be catchy that doesn’t imply that it is genuine. Before you click on an unwanted link try doing a background check on it.

Don’t install free software without a verified publisher.

If you find free software or if you are downloading a lot of free stuff just because it’s free. That is something which could be pack with something malicious which can affect your computer in a lot of ways.

Don’t respond to any unexpected ad pop-ups.

There are certain advertisements that tell you that you have won a car or some huge amount of money so they say that click here to win that prize. Do not click on that link. These are the most common type of malicious pop ups.

Always do some background checks on softwares and its publishers especially if it’s free.

I am not saying that every software which is free is malicious but just be sure that you are downloading a genuine software. You can check it is genuine when it comes from a genuine source or check if some reviewers are talking about it.

Beware of online notifications that ask you to download antivirus programs.

`Usually these are fake software to spy on you, control or monitor your system or might run any software on your system so download antivirus only from genuine publishers only!

Enable the popup blocker of your browser.

It doesn’t matter which browser you use, almost all the browsers have a feature of blocking pop ups on the browser. If you can’t find it then you can just search for it.

Enable your security software that comes along with anti-adware features.

There are many security software available that have anti-adware features. You can choose whichever you like.

Can I remove Adware?

There is no particular method as such to remove adware. Some adwares can be as easy as a software to remove. But some adwares needs specific tools to remove it. In some serious cases where the best of the best antiviruses also cannot remove it then the only way to remove it will be by reinstalling the operating system. You shouldn’t be lazy to remove it, even if it’s not that annoying to you it may be monitoring your sensitive data and you can be in serious trouble.

written by: Atharva Shirude

reviewed by: Sayan Chatterjee

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