What is a Popup Download For?

Posted by tomgreen on December 5, 2009

A popup download is a name for a popup window that requests a website visitor to download software or a program to the hard drive of their computer. The popup may actually not be in the form of a popup advertisement, but may be a pop up window that opens up and asks the user to comply with one thing or another. These types of popups are normally in the form of some type of security warning. The website visitor may actually believe that this popup is part of an application that the website needs to run in order for a process to be completed.

Spyware in the form of a popup download can install on a person’s computer and then gather personal information about them. These malicious programs have the capability to send information back to the company that developed it or to someone who is using the program to gain their information. Many of these popups spyware programs are implemented to gather information about the habits of website users. There are malware programs however, that are used to steal personal information, such as credit card numbers or bank account information from website surfers.

Another type of spyware program that may be downloaded to an individual’s computer is the drive by download. This type of download does not bring up a pop up window, but downloads automatically to the computer from visited websites. The drive by download may also gain access to an individual’s computer through an email. The malware might also be activated when a user requests a certain application, such as file sharing. This is one way that a company can gather targeted marketing information.

Spyware can infect a computer without the user ever knowing it. One way that this is done is through popup download applications. The web surfer rarely ever knows that they activated the spyware when they clicked on a popup image. When this happens, no simple popup blocker will do. These programs need a spyware removal tool in order to take them off the infected computer.

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