Getting to Know Adware & How to Protect Yourself

Michelle Wilson - April 22, 2020

Ever have THIS nightmare happen to you?

You flip on the old computer and sign in to Facebook, twitter, your email or whatever website you frequent, and without warning you are hit with an ad bomb. Ads are coming from everywhere, and flooding your screen. You can’t click them closed fast enough.

You’ve been infected with adware (advertising supported software). Somehow this software was installed on your system. The goal of this software is to get as many views to as many ads as possible as that’s how the software owner generates revenue through marketing networks he is signed up with. This is absolutely against 99% of the network regulations out there, so you can bet this is what is known as black-hat marketing.

Alright, so what exactly is Adware?

Adware was coined as a term that any software designed to display ads on your computer. Most often this will be through your web or mobile browser, however more problematic virus software exists that just requires an internet connection and a machine that has been turned on. It will overwhelm you with ads that you most likely aren’t wanting to see.

There are even forms of adware that will hijack your searches by instead displaying ad-based websites. Once there the owners of the adware will attempt to collect even more data about you for marketing purposes.

A Few Adware Examples and How It Works

So at its core there are two genres of Adware that can affect you.

• Browser hijacker: There are times that simply visiting a site that is infected will in turn infect you. They will do whatever it takes to get around blocks set up by your browser to overwhelm and redirect you to ten other sites that start the process all over again. In some cases, your settings can even be updated in your browsers.
• Freeware or Shareware Downloads: The more malicious types of adware hitch a ride on some free software that you downloaded from the internet. I know, it’s crazy, how could people who spend so much time building a software I would like, offer it for free and take advantage of me? Well… guess what? They did it. They do it. They’ll do it again. Stop getting free software from disreputable sources, Gary…

Listen you are like a fish swimming in a pond, and these people spend their lives trying to entice you to bite their hooks. They are VERY good at it. They have lots of really fancy gear in their tackle-box, designed to trick you into trusting them. Once you do they will start the parade of annoying ads while possibly also collecting even more data about you.

Recognize The Symptoms of an Adware Infection:

• Alright the first is obvious… you are being flooded with pop-up ads and/or other types of annoying advertisements.
• Maybe something simple like your homepage has suddenly been changed.
• There is something off about some of the sites you regular.
• Your browser seems very sluggish or unresponsive.
• You are seeing new icons on your toolbar that you don’t recognize.
• You actually see new software, or notice that existing software has suddenly disappeared.

What You Can Do to Proactively Shield Yourself From Adware

Alright you’ve spotted some suspect behavior on your computer and you have determined it’s time to take some steps to remove the adware that is obviously infecting your machine. Make sure to run a system backup. And backup any important files you have.

First things first, uninstall any software you do not recognize via the systems uninstall process, and see if this clears up the issues.

A lot of the time you might not see the suspect program or just aren’t sure what is or isn’t supposed to be there. If this is the case, you are going to want to find a malware antivirus program from a trusted source and install it on your computer. It will then do a deep dive into your every file on your system and seek out the adware and remove it for you.

Using a trusted antivirus/anti-adware software will help maintain protection on your computer moving forward. It is important to remain vigilant. If you have been infected you should take the time to go ahead and update all your online passwords and profiles, and don’t forget bank accounts and anything else you may have logged into. You can never be too safe.

Make sure to keep your antivirus software up to date and always think before you download anything. Is it really free? Or am I being had? Stay vigilant