Security Risks Not Limited To Spam And Viruses (NAPSA)—Arecent study suggests that spyware and adware could be more prevalent than many might expect. Computer users today face an ever-increasing list of Internet risks, many of which users might not be aware of. The debilitating effects of viruses and spam have caused multiple headaches, for users around the world. Unfortunately, viruses and spam aren’t the only causes of headaches as newer security risks are gaining traction in the Internet security environment. The latest security risks to negatively impact Internet performance include spyware, adware, hijackers and phishing scams. Users whoare proactively protecting themselves from knownrisks still might be adversely affected by some of these risks that are less visible to the untrained eye. Surfing mainstream Websites, once a seemingly innocuousactiv- ity, has become hazardous to your computer’s health, as a recent Symantec study hasindicated. Symantec researchers were interested in finding out what kind of adware, spyware, hijackers and cookies wereleft behind on the computer after regular Internet surfing. Seven categories of Web sites were chosen: sports, kids, gaming, news, reseller, shopping, and travel. The researchers freshly installed Windows XP, then spent one hour surfing wellknown Websites within each of the seven categories. After that hour, they recorded what wasleft behind from the surfing session. The results were both surprising and alarming. While shopping sites left no spyware and adware, notall of the Web sites were as clean. Mainstream kids’ Web sites generated the majority of adware in the An all-in-one security suite can shield your computer from viruses, spam, Trojan horses, phishing, spyware, adware, hijackers and otherrisks. study. Out of 468 total adware finds throughout the research, 359 came while surfing kids’ sites, or 77 percent of the adware. Most users are taking steps to protect themselves from inappropriate content, such as sexually explicit spam e-mail and Web sites that are unsuitable for children. Now, those same users are realizing they need protection from security risks like adware and spyware. A possible answer for all of these problemsis a productlike Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition, Symantec’s $99 all-in-one comprehensive secu- rity suite. While other stand-alone products address individual pieces of the Internet security puzzle, an all-in-one suite takes into consideration the average home user who does not want to worry about the intricacies of their computer’s protection. One solution—preferably one that takes care of all of the security problems including viruses, spam, Trojan horses, phishing, spyware, adware, hijackers, etc—from a trusted vendoris an easy way to address these sticky security risks.
