You will find many web sites online that will offer you free screensavers for download.
The question is, are those screensavers safe to install on your computer? By downloading and installing these so-called free screensavers can any harm come to your computer?
This is a legitimate concern, which needs to be addressed before anyone even thinks about downloading and installing a free screensaver.
Check out this video and find out how XoftSpySE Anti-Spyware defeats spyware on your Windows computer!
You will soon find that there are quite a few dangerous types of code that can come buried inside a free screensaver. These could contain viruses, Spyware, Adware, and toolbars. There are a few variations of these types of programs, but in the main, they are as a rule undesirable, unless the user specifically wants them.
It is extremely important that you do your inquiries before you download screensavers. Read the Terms of Service and Conditions of Use on the websites, as companies are required by law to enlighten users what they are installing.
Be sure that you read the fine print – not just what you are presented with on the download page. Sometimes they will say they contain no spyware, but they do not refer to anything about Adware.
Here is a quick overview of several types of malicious programs that you might get from a screensaver.
Viruses:
These can seriously harm your computer, often to the point of losing your valuable data for good. If you are frightened of getting your computer infected with viruses, only download software from trusted sites where programs are verified and tested. One such site is Download.com who also host their own files, which means that viruses can’t be added to the software at a later date.
Spyware:
These types of programs are nasty because they unethically track and record just about everything you do online. The data can then be sold to advertisers or used to change your browser and computer functions to direct you to unwanted websites. Spyware is one of the worst types of bundled software, and can be extremely difficult to remove.
In fact, sometimes they make it so difficult to remove you often have to rummage around the internet to figure out how to get rid of it. You can usually find many complaints about a particular Spyware program from other disgruntled surfers.
Adware: Adware is not quite as bad as Spyware, but it can still be pretty annoying to many computer users. Adware programs will continually display popups and useless adverts while you are surfing the internet. Sometimes you do not even realise that you have Adware unless you start to see an excessive number of popups during your internet browsing.
Toolbars:
Finally we have browser toolbars, which can be useful or dangerous depending on where you got them. Some toolbars are actually quite useful, such as the Google Toolbar, or some that offer an increased browsing experience like the StumbleUpon toolbar.
Having said that, there are other toolbars which are used as a means of displaying constant unwanted ads and are hard to uninstall. Some of these unwanted toolbars come bundled with free screensavers or software, often from some seemingly reputable companies.
The point is, are you ready to put up with a torrent of advertisements just to get a free screensaver – which are not even necessary. When all is said and done, screensavers were designed to prevent CRT monitors suffering from screen burn, but not many people have these now. The fact is, screensavers are totally unnecessary for LCD monitors, so why take the trouble unless you like looking at beautiful pictures.
Check out this video and find out how XoftSpySE Anti-Spyware defeats spyware on your Windows computer!