URL loggers track websites and pages visited online; screen recorders can take a small grayscale snapshot image of your screen every time it changes and can store or transmit these without notifying you.

Email recorders and chat loggers are similar, making a text copy of all incoming and outgoing email and chat sessions. Domestic spyware frequently utilizes these methods.

When you bank online with this software on your hard drive someone is looking over your shoulder. Password recorders do just that—track typed passwords. Keylogger spyware software records all of your keystrokes, not just passwords.

Web bugs are also known as advertiser spyware or adware. When you have adware on your computer you receive targeted, popup ads after you perform some action, such as typing something into a search engine. This advertising can even appear on your screen even when you are not online. If you are pummeled with new advertising screens constantly, you most likely have web bug spyware installed on your computer.

Some borrow your computer system for their own use — spyware users can hijack your connection to send their spam through your ISP. This means that a parasitical spammer can send thousands of spam emails through your computer connection and your ISP address. High-volume, high speed Internet access lines are targeted by users of this spyware. Often victims don’t realize that their good name has been muddied until their ISP cuts them off due to spam complaints.

If you use a telephone modem for your Internet connection, an unscrupulous person may be able to install an online dialer on your computer to establish a new Internet connection that uses pricy 900-type long-distance phone numbers—quite a shock when you get your next telephone bill. These dialer spyware programs often piggy-back on spam and porn emails; simply opening the email can inadvertently initiate the dialer installation. The hard-to-track villain banks on the fact that you’ll pay your phone bill in full before you take time to figure out what happened.

PC hijackers place Internet shortcuts on your Favorites Folder without prompting you. This shortcut will lead many accidental viewers to their website so that they may artificially inflate their website's traffic stats; this enables them to receive higher advertising revenues at the expense of your time. You may be able to get rid of these false favorites by changing your Internet options, but occasionally the only way to get rid of these annoying shortcuts is to go into your registry and delete them. However, some spyware installs a safety net for itself that resets the spyware on your registry each time you reboot. Your only option to kill this aggressive type of spyware is to reformat your hard drive or to utilize an excellent anti-spyware program.

This spyware masquerades as a something harmless yet can compromise your computer—your data may be copied, distributed or destroyed. A virus is similar but has the additional power to replicate itself, causing damage to multiple computers. Both of these vicious pieces of software fall under the definition of spyware because you are unaware of and would not condone their true purpose.

Adware refers to software that displays advertisements using any means: pop-up windows, banners, changes to the browser home page or search page, etc. These advertisements can be associated to the products or services offered by the creator of the adware or third-parties.

Adware can be installed with your consent and awareness, but sometimes it is not. The same happens with the knowledge or lack of knowledge regarding its functionalities.

Cookies are small text files stored in the browser on the users' computer, when visiting web pages.

Cookies store information that can be used for several purposes:

• To personalize web pages to the preferences of each user.
• To gather demographic information about how many users visit the page and how long they spend viewing it.
• To monitor which banners are displayed to the user and for how long.

Cookies can also be used to create user profiles with information that the user is unaware of, and sent to third parties. This information is transmitted to third parties, such as advertisers or others who could be interested in this sort of data, and represents a serious intrusion upon the individual's privacy.

Most web sites use cookies in some portions of the site to keep a 'session' open. This allows the site to have forums and other advanced functionality. Additionally tasteful advertising is done to help support the cost of running web sites.

Lastly, cookies are sometimes used through our affiliate links to ensure our web site gets a small commission for sending readers to purchase products. Without these things, non-retail sites could not exist. There must be a balance between cookie use, advertising and marketing. Widespread blocking these things would cause many sites to shut down.