What is it?
Spyware is software that transmits personally identifiable information from your computer to some place on the internet without telling you about it. Adware is similar to spyware, but it transmits aggregated information instead of personally identifiable information and causes advertisements to pop up on your computer. This information is largely used for marketing research and pop-up ads.
In addition to sending out your personal information, spyware and adware can also slow your computer down and cause problems with other programs.
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