I thought I should give you some advice on how to protect yourself on perhaps the biggest threat on the internet.

Wikipedia describes spyware as a type of program that watches after what users do with their computer and then send this information to a hacker over the internet. Spyware has been around since 1994 but has only become something widespread in the last five or so years.

I have found that spyware is very good at hiding itself to the point where it can even gain access to the computer by having the user download it. Oblivious to the fact that they are potentially threatening the privacy of their own computer. This is probably why spyware has become just as bad, if not worse, than viruses. Most people don't even know that they have spyware on their computer let alone how to remove it and prevent an outbreak from ever happening again.

The reason why very few people know that they have spyware is because it very rarely stops their system from working. Some pieces of spyware add on a toolbar to your internet browser which may appear useful but as you use the toolbar, it transmits what you search to someone who can make related pop-ups appear on your computer. Usually, if you find you have one piece of spyware on your computer, chances are that you also have many more. All of this spyware will eventually slow your computer down, disable important processes on your computer and lower browser security. For anyone, this is a bad thing and I think that now is a good time for you to know how to remove these vile programs from your computer.

There are many programs out there but the following ones are programs that I use on a frequent basis. All of them are free to download and run on your own PC.

The most common program is Lavasoft's Ad-Aware. This program is very simple and easy to use. After you have installed it, click the 'Check For Updates' button and download the latest update. Once that has finished running you are then able to run a full scan on your system. So, click the 'Start' button and choose the 'Perform Full System Scan' option and leave it to run. Now, depending upon the size of your computers hard drive, this can take anything from 20 mins to about an hour. So I suggest that you go find a good book or watch TV in the mean time. After the scan has run, chances are that you'll have a group of problems that have arisen. You can browse through them and the TAC rating giving by Ad-Aware tells you how dangerous the programs are with 1 being not so dangerous to 5 being extremely. You can choose which ones to delete or you can just delete them all. It's always reccomended creating a Restore point before hand so create one now. Once that is done, feel free to delete them all. Sometimes, the program will ask to run when you next start your computer because it can't remove some of the programs so after that is done, restart your computer and let the program run again. This time it'll be faster since not much else is going on on your computer. Once it's finished, delete the highlighted programs and your computer will start up as normal. You should run this program once a week and always check for updates before you run a scan.

The next program is Spybot Search & Destroy. This program picks up the things that Ad-Aware doesn't and also has a basic shield to prevent spyware from getting on. So after you have installed this, follow the instructions at start up like backing up your registry and searching for updates. Once that has been done, you are now free to search your system for any spyware. The first thing you should do, if you run Windows XP, is go to 'Mode' and select 'Advanced'. Now the warning tells you that you can possibly do damage to your computer so follow these instructions carefully. Go to 'Settings' then click the "Settings" button and go to 'Main Settings". Under that tab, you will see two options for creating a System Restore point. Make sure that both of those have a check mark in the boxes beside them and then go to "Mode" at the top and select "Default Mode". Now run a scan and once that scan has completed you can delete everything whatever the search brings up. Spybot will create a Restore Point for you to refer back to in the unlikely event that things mess up. Once it has deleted everything, it might ask you to run the program when you next start your computer so restart it and let the program run a check and delete the neccesary files. Once it is done, your computer will start up as normal. Like Ad-Aware, be sure to run a scan every week, updating before you do so. You will see an option on the left called 'Immunize'. Click on it after you have downloaded the updates and if any products haven't been blocked then go ahead and click the 'Immunize' button at the top of the window. Make this part of your weekly routine and you should be fine.

The last program is the simplest to use. Javacool Software's SpywareBlaster uses a more advanced shield than Spybot's. All you have to do is install it, update it and add the new items to your blocked list. This makes sure that none of the spyware in their list gets on to your computer. I like this program because it also allows support for Mozilla FIrefox and has a rather cool feature to change the dialogue at the top of your Internet Explorer window so that you can scare your family/friends into thinking that they really have been hacked!

Those three programs won't prevent everything from getting on there but chances are, not much will unless you have downloaded and installed something yourself. When you download something, make sure it is from a source you know is reliable and if the program offers you to install something extra then don't allow it to! Chances are it is spyware and you'll be right back to square one.

I can't accept any responsibility if anything bad happens to your computer but I'm more than happy to help out if you make a post about it on my forum. If I can't help you out then I'll probably refer you to somewhere which is more knowledgeable than I am.

Thanks for reading and hopefully I've made your life online a bit easier