In-Depth

Spyware symptoms

Here are the most common indicators of a spyware infection:

  • Web browser redirection. Users are inexplicably shunted to a random Web site, or their home pages are reset to advertisements.
  • Pop-up pains. Spyware programs can generate five or more pop-up ads for every page load. This is one of spyware’s big network-performance drags.
  • Wheel-spinning. If users can open a Web browser, but find that accessing a new site is so slow as to be essentially impossible, that’s a dead giveaway.

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About the Author

Steve Ulfelder is a freelance technology and automotive writer.