What are these?
Adware and spyware advertise themselves as  "making the Internet friendlier." However, this software has been reported to: 

• cause the periodic opening of pop-up ads 
• hijack search settings (such as WebCT)
• corrupt web addresses over 72 characters in length, making it impossible to display the correct web page
• may cause runtime errors in MS Internet Explorer in a MS Windows operating environment

Spyware, parasites, and other deceptive software can cause problems when using WebCT or other websites. WebCT recommends that you check for, then uninstall or temporarily disable these types of software to eliminate problems when accessing WebCT.

Spyware has been reported to send information about web sites you visit back to the host company or its partners.

How do I check if I have these?

To check your browser for spyware, parasites, and other deceptive software and for more detailed information, visit the Doxdesk page on parasites: http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite

How do I get rid of these?
Uninstall or disable the adware/software/parasite.

Use Anti-Spyware software
To help you control these types programs, you can download and install a spyware detection and removal utility, such as:

• Ad-aware available from: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
• SpyBot available from: http://spybot.eon.net.au