According to ABC, we now have something of an “official” definition of Spyware and Adware based on a 13 page report from the recently formed “Anti-Spyware Coalition”. Part of the Spyware problem was defining what is Spyware, what isn’t, and what rides the grey lines. That sort of confusion has led to several lawsuits and much uncertainty from both vendors and consumers alike. Hopefully the new definitions will go some way to alleviating the problems. See also: CNET.
Spyware can slow your computer to a crawl by consuming your CPU cycles and RAM. It can also make Windows unstable and cause crashes and data loss. At present Spyware is a problem limited to the Microsoft Windows platform and there are free tools that Windows users can use to clean out their machines. Internet Explorer is currently the method most spyware gets onto peoples machines so just using Firefox or Opera can make a big difference.
