Free Spyware Removal

Trojan Horse
Even though a trojan horse is sometimes also called Trojan, it is more a Greek. The Greeks built the so-called "trojan horse" in the fight about Troja to get into the town, so they are the real snoops ;)

A trojan is a program that has gotten onto your machine without your knowledge and contains malicious code, that would for example allow persons using another computer to connect to yours over a network. Typical trojans are open to anyone trying to connect (any person on your local network or even the internet). Special trojans are designed to make your machine accessible just to the person who infected your computer with the trojan.

The access an outsider can gain using a trojan on your machine can be nearly anything. From watching all your behaviour (like a keylogger), manipulating your computer to basically doing anything you can also do using your keyboard and mouse.

Your computer can get infected with a trojan by multiple ways. A person with physical access to your machine can place it there, but you can also accidentally install it yourself by opening an unknown email attachment that by chance contains a trojan.

According to some definitions, trojans are also programs that sneak into other programs, for example to gain access. As these programs are consciously used by the other, they are not trojans, but are backdoors.

Browser Hijacker
A browser hijacker is a small program or registry setting that is responsible for changed IE start and search pages. If your browser starts with a different start page (one you have not changed yourself), you most probably got hijacked. Intelligent hijackers do not only change these pages, but also add a small file that will restore the hijacked settings upon each system start. Hijackers often use ActiveX installation programs and/or security holes.

Key Loggers
The name keylogger was defined back in old DOS times, where computers were handled just by using a keyboard. The most basic keyloggers back from that time just log the keys you press. The spy, a person with physical access to your machine, could get that log at a later point and see everything you typed.

Modern keyloggers are much improved. They do not only log the keys you press, but do also make screenshots to show the spy what Windows you are working with, they capture information about your internet use, and much more. The spy does not even need physical access to your machine because many current keyloggers send their logs by email.

Dialers
A dialer is a very small program, often installed using the ActiveX technology. Dialers often promise access to free porn, free games or free cracks for commercial software. Once installed, a dialer offers to use your dial-up device to call in to the service, usually calling a quite expensive phone number. Some dialers explain the costs of the connection they will be making, since it is required by local law in some countries, but many dialers just display a button offering to connect, without informing the user of what is happening behind it. In the worst case, the dialer sets up the expensive number as the default Internet connection, meaning the user will have to pay high rates for being online, without even knowing it until receiving the next high phone bill.