Editing Spyware (section)

==Effects and behaviors==
{{One source section|date=December 2018}}
A spyware program rarely operates alone on a computer; an affected machine usually has multiple infections. Users frequently notice unwanted behavior and degradation of system performance. A spyware infestation can create significant unwanted [[central processing unit|CPU]] activity, disk usage, and network traffic. Stability issues, such as applications freezing, failure to boot, and system-wide crashes are also common. Usually, this effect is intentional, but may be caused from the malware simply requiring large amounts of computing power, disk space, or network usage. Spyware, which interferes with networking software commonly causes difficulty connecting to the Internet.

In some infections, the spyware is not even evident. Users assume in those situations that the performance issues relate to faulty hardware, Windows installation problems, or another [[malware]] infection. Some owners of badly infected systems resort to contacting [[technical support]] experts, or even buying a new computer because the existing system "has become too slow". Badly infected systems may require a clean reinstallation of all their software in order to return to full functionality.

Moreover, some types of spyware disable software [[Firewall (networking)|firewalls]] and [[antivirus software]], and/or reduce browser security settings, which opens the system to further [[opportunistic infection]]s. Some spyware disables or even removes competing spyware programs, on the grounds that more spyware-related annoyances increase the likelihood that users will take action to remove the programs.<ref name="competitor removal">Edelman, Ben; December 7, 2004 (updated February 8, 2005); [http://www.benedelman.org/news/120704-1.html Direct Revenue Deletes Competitors from Users' Disks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706133016/http://www.benedelman.org/news/120704-1.html |date=July 6, 2010 }}; benedelman.com. Retrieved November 28, 2006.</ref>

[[Keylogger]]s are sometimes part of malware packages downloaded onto computers without the owners' knowledge. Some keylogger software is freely available on the internet, while others are commercial or private applications. Most keyloggers allow not only keyboard keystrokes to be captured, they also are often capable of collecting screen captures from the computer.

A typical Windows user has [[administrative privileges]], mostly for convenience. Because of this, any program the user runs has unrestricted access to the system. As with other [[operating system]]s, Windows users are able to follow the [[principle of least privilege]] and use non-[[administrative privileges|administrator]] accounts. Alternatively, they can reduce the [[Privilege (computing)|privileges]] of specific vulnerable Internet-facing [[Process (computing)|processes]], such as [[Internet Explorer]].

Since [[Windows Vista]] is, by default, a computer administrator that runs everything under limited user privileges, when a program requires administrative privileges, a [[User Account Control]] pop-up will prompt the user to allow or deny the action. This improves on the design used by previous versions of Windows.
Spyware is also known as tracking software.