Spyware

Spyware is a computer program/malware that reports information about your computer and yourself to a remote source. These reports can or do include user account information, cookies, browsing history, files, keystrokes, and other private data. A variant of spyware is adware which instead of reporting information to another source, uses that information to come up with the best ads to show to you. Spyware sometimes comes with rootkits which hooks to directory listings and OS API's to prevent the spyware's resources from being shown. Spyware can also change your browser's settings