Spyware
If you use your PC on the Internet, it has likely been exposed to some form of spyware/malware. Some forms of Spyware have evolved into nothing more than a malicious program intended to cause your computer harm or allow a malicious user to gather information, yes, quite possibly your private information including financial records, credit card information and even a social security number. Your concern about Spyware is very real and you have no choice but to consider it a very real, very obvious threat to your privacy and the security of your computer.

Where did Spyware come from?
Most Spyware applications popped up around the same time as the file sharing revolution. Most of the original applications used for file sharing such as "Morpheus", "Kazaa" and even now more recently "LimeWire" contain spyware, adware and even malware. They claim to be the good guys offering a free way for you to download movies, games and software for free when in fact they are making hundreds of thousands if not millions in advertising revenue by bundling their software with all of these malicious, privacy invading software applications we have come to know as Spyware. (end run on sentence here) hehe (It's worth mentioning by the way that downloading movies, music and software using these file sharing programs is in fact illegal in most cases and considered copyright infringement)

How do I get rid of Spyware?
For most users, this is a very daunting task and not easily done. Many forms of Spyware cannot be removed without a 3rd party application such as SpyBot Search & Destroy, a freely available software program that can be downloaded on the internet. This is a great (and FREE) piece of software, I have used it since it was initially released and the results have been exceptional. I rarely work on a computer that I don't install this program on. It is also a great preventitive tool to help keep your system immunized from certain types of adware/spyware. Althought SpyBot Search & Destroy is freely available and a great program it can be somewhat difficult for a novice user to install and configure correctly, we recommend you have a professional (that would be us) take care of this for you and at a minimum show you how to operate the program.

How do I stay away from Spyware?
You can’t really completely avoid Spyware however you can follow a good set of rules to help you avoid it. We've put together a few things you can do to help avoid Spyware.

1. Don't click on popups, you will be tempted to click them when you see them on your screen, avoid this at all cost.

2. Get a hardware and software firewall, this will help secure your home or office network, a software firewall should be the minimum amount of security you keep on your network. If you have a broadband connection you should buy a router, most routers have a hardware firewall in them, this should be sufficient for a home user.

3. Don't give out your personal information unnecessarily. If a site asks for your personal information to register for an account give it your junk email address, there are many free mail services online where you can register an address just for this purpose. If you are registering a product for warranty service you need to decide how important it is for them to have your information, definitely read the privacy policy of the company you are submitting the information to and make sure they don't sell your contact information, always opt out of them sharing your information with others if at all possible.

4. Don't use file sharing programs. Nuff Said.

5. When a little bar pops up in your browser saying an "Active X" script is needed to view the web page, carefully read what it is and decide if you really trust the site you are visiting to allow that sort of thing.

6. Run SpyBot Search & Destroy on a regular basis, also run your antivirus on a regular basis. We recommend using AVG Antivirus from Grisoft, it's a great program and best of all the personal version is FREE.

This information is intended to be helpful and is not the cure-all for getting SpyWare, you should use as many precautionary measures as you can to help you with your quest to be SpyWare free.