What Antispyware Really Means

Look: Let’s be upfront about this. When you hear or read the word “antispyware,” you might be tempted to get nervous, particularly when you think about those warnings that swoop across the online world. “This will destroy your hard drive and wipe out all your information!” they often shriek, and often in capital letters.

Now let’s think about antispyware some more. You know about it, and you know what it’s for: To prevent spyware from landing on your hard drive.

Here’s why this is important: Spyware doesn’t want to erase your hard drive. No matter what those warnings like to terrorize us with, most of the spyware, viruses, keyloggers, Trojan horses and just general malware wants your computer to stay functional. Because that’s when they can do damage.

Spyware wants to steal your stuff. Spyware wants to bombard you with pop-up ads, sometimes masquerading as real messages from Windows. Spyware very well might want to take your identity, your credit card numbers, your passwords. Your MONEY.

This is why an antispyware program is so important for all of us to have. Not to prevent our hard drives from dying; to prevent them from working for somebody else.