CompTIA (The Computing Technology Industry Association) commissioned Kotler Marketing Group of Washington, D.C. to conduct a survey on the impact of spyware infection in the productivity of small businesses. It was found out that the impact can last as long as two and a half days!
Spyware 101
For the uninitiated, a spyware is a type of software that sends info about your web surfing habits to the website where it came from. Spyware is often installed without a person knowing and it usually comes with a free download.
How Spyware Can Decrease Business Productivity
If left untreated, a spyware infection, which is known to happen to one in every six computers, can impede productivity drastically. The types of productivity threats posed by spyware include:
- Waste of available bandwidth due to spyware's transmission and reception of data
- Internet access problems from types of spyware known as browser hijackers that change your homepage and search results
- Slower computer performance because of conflict between spyware applications
Other Damages Spyware Can Do to Your Business
Aside from these and many other productivity problems that spywares can inflict, a business owner should worry about the worse effects of spyware infection, which mostly involves security threat such as data theft. Spyware applications can enable people to gain access to intellectual property and confidential info such as customer data. These can all bring damage to your business.
How to Prevent Spyware Invasion
The usual ways include surfing safely or not being too download-happy, be careful with file sharing, use alternative browsers like Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer (because IE has too many security vulnerabilities), install firewall, and you guessed it right use anti-spyware and install an anti-spyware backup.
Anti-Spyware Review Sources
Different strokes for different folks so I'm not recommending any specific anti-spyware. But if you'd ask me, I'm using Norton, which I have no qualms with so far. For more options, PCMag and ConsumerSearch have some of the most comprehensive reviews of anti-spyware tools. Your budget, computer use or surfing habits and business needs will definitely help in deciding which is the best anti-spyware to use.
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