What is Spychecker?
======================
Spychecker is a small application that queries the Spychecker.com
online database for known "Spyware" applications.
If you are not sure whether the freeware program you are about to download
is actually advertising supported "Spyware" - simply type the name of the software into the box and click
"Check". Spychecker will open the search results in your browser.

How to use
========================
Start the Spychecker application from
Start/Programs/Spychecker
The Spychecker icon will appear in the tray, next to your clock.
Click the icon to open the search box
Type in the name of the software in question and
press "Check"
Spychecker will launch your browser and display 
the search results.
Please see "Introduction" under the Help menu for
more details

Additional information
==========================
Spychecker.com is a public database of Spyware products. The database is maintained on a daily basis and new software is added or removed as needed. Information is gathered from Internet sources, ad companies and reliable sources in the software distribution industry. 

We use the term "Spyware" because it has become the Internet jargon for certain advertising supported products. Spychecker.com does not suggest that any of the advertising networks are using the collected data in any other way than stated in their privacy policy. 

Mission Statement

The Spychecker difference
Spychecker.com is much different from other sites that deal with the topic of "Spyware". The probably most important difference is the fact that we are not an anti-spyware campaign, we do not speculate, we do not target individual products and try to detect spyware activity - we deal with proven facts and make them available to the public. 

Currently all products enabled with one of the following adware systems are commonly referred to in the internet community as "Spyware":
Aureate/Radiate, Conducent/Timesink, Web 3000, Cydoor 
Is Spyware illegal?
Even though the name may indicate so, Spyware is not an illegal type of software in any way. However there are certain issues that a privacy oriented user may object to and therefore prefer not to use the product. This usually involves the tracking and sending of data and statistics via a server installed on the user's PC. 

What's the hype about?
While legitimate adware companies will disclose the nature of data that is collected and transmitted in their privacy statement (linked from our database), there is almost no way for the user to actually control what data is being sent. The fact is that the technology is in theory capable of sending much more than just banner statistics - and this is why many people feel uncomfortable with the idea. 

On the other hand...
Millions of people are using advertising supported "spyware" products and could care less about the privacy hype..., in fact some "Spyware" programs are among the most popular downloads on the Internet.

Where we stand...
We are not trying to scare you into not using "Spyware" not do we want to sweet talk you into it. Spychecker.com provides a service that let's you determine whether a product is in fact "true" freeware or contains one of the tracking devices that caused the Internet community to nickname it "Spyware". Furthermore, we are linking to the privacy policy of the advertising company that distributes the product, so you can review it and make an educated decision on whether you want to use the product in it's advertising supported state or not. 

 
