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I found this in my McAfee AntiSpyware help files.

What is spyware?



With the rise of computer and Internet usage there has been an increase in the number of applications such as spyware. These programs are installed in different ways onto your system, and their functionality is not necessarily exclusive, but there are common patterns. Spyware predominantly tracks a user's behavior and/or sends data about a user to a server.

Spyware programs send any unseen, unknown, and unwanted communication including but not limited to spying. Spyware includes programs that intentionally or unintentionally record and/or transmit personal or security related (personal identifiable information) or track uses movement (trails) over the Internet without a user's consent. True consent should only be considered as granted if the program provides specific details of the data stored/transmitted as well as its purpose. This information as well as the option to opt-out must be presented to the user at the time of installation. This includes monitoring keystrokes (keystroke loggers), tracking Internet history, or any application that ultimately extracts information in a covert fashion from the computer on which it resides.

Spyware applications have one or all of the following attributes:

1. Personal Names such as given name and family name, encompassing first, middle, and last names.
2. Family Name information, including Kin
3. Social Security Numbers
4. Phone numbers
5. Age
6. Gender
7. E-mail address
8. User's Zip Code
9. Addresses
10. User's Country
11. Financial Information such as bank, investment, and stock account numbers
12. Employee Numbers
13. Any user account numbers
14. Security and non-security User Names
15. Security Passwords

Attributes of Typical Spyware Applications



Attributes of Spyware are defined, but not limited to, applications with attributes such as:

• No way to access any user interface after install.
• No way to temporarily or permanently disable activity.
• Mass-mailing to customer's address book contents.
• Uploading user information (personal identifiable information) to a central location, at various levels of detail.
• Uploading user statistical information (e.g. browsing habits) to a central location.
• May not ask for consent for performing actions beyond the initial installation, or End User License Agreement (EULA).
• May not have a readily available privacy notice.
• Automated downloading and installation of arbitrary software and content.
• Silent use of internet bandwidth.
• Background processes that may violate your privacy by sending out data from your computer without your explicit permission.
• Betray a user's trust. If a program tries to access the Internet and McAfee does not know what it is doing and it has no text strings to identify the application.

What is not Spyware



There are many common misconceptions of Spyware.

• Spyware is not a virus. It does not attempt to replicate itself as viruses do and Spyware's intention is not to corrupt your data or destroy your hard drive.
• Spyware is not an application that ships with the Microsoft Operating System. Any removal of such application will cause system instability.
• Spyware is not an application that is beneficial to the computer and does not meet Spyware, Trojan or Adware definitions.
• Spyware is not an application that may be Adware if it is so clearly marked as such that there is no real concern of users not understanding the EULA (e.g. Yahoo, Microsoft Money).

How did spyware get on my system?



With the rise of identity and intellectual property theft, spyware programs can be used by an identity thief to obtain personal information accessible on your computer, including banking information, private address files, or other financial documents that can be relayed anywhere in the world, without your knowledge or consent. How do these spyware programs get on my computer?

Spyware programs typically end up on computers without your consent. The biggest culprits in spreading spyware are the popular peer-to-peer programs available today. These products install multiple spyware and adware programs.

Most users download peer-to-peer programs without reading and agreeing to the End User License Agreements (EULAs). These licensing agreements include statements detailing the installation of third party products, but most end users do not read the EULAs or do not care about the programs that are subsequently installed on their computer. Spyware can also be installed on your computer if your browser's security settings are set to low, enabling Active X controls to perform "drive-by" downloads. Social engineering also comes into play when you click links in e-mails that you assume are legitimate, but in reality install spyware.

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I have a dell:
Number of CPUs-1
Name-Intel Pentium III EB
Code name-Coppermine
Specification-Intel Pentium III EB 800 MHz
Memory Size-512 MBytes
Windows Version-Microsoft Windows 2000 Workstation (Build 2195)
DirectX Version-9.0a

I got a new hard drive! It's a 120GB Seagate