How to avoid spyware

3- Do not install "dubious" software

This suggestion will, at first, seem ambigous - after all, what makes something "dubious"?

In this case, there are three possibilities:

1. legitimate software which was tampered with, altered, to include something dangerous
2. something dangerous, which pretends to be legitimate software (think of it as "having a false label")
3. software which is dangerous itself

In the first two cases, the way to avoid trouble is simple: only install software downloaded from the maker's site, or from official "mirrors", and not from other places (especially peer-to-peer networks).

The third case is more complex, because the maker himself is dishonest. There isn't a "magical formula" to determine whether a piece of software is trustworthy or not, but the following tips may be useful:

• the word "free", in this case, doesn't mean much. It may be really free and unencumbered, without "small print", or it may be "supported by advertising", which is usually a synonym of "includes spyware".
• "open source" software is, usually, safe.
• anything related to Internet Explorer (in particular, toolbars for it) is potentially dangerous. Besides, if you're following suggestion 1, you won't need any of that.
• as a last resort, ask a more technically inclined friend about a piece of software you aren't sure about.

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