Spyware and Adware
What is Spyware?
Spyware is a general term for computer software installed on a personal computer, generally without appropriately obtaining your consent, which performs tasks like collecting personal information, displaying ads, or changing your computers configuration. Spyware can cause your computer to slowdown or crash; can collect personal information or even keystrokes. Microsoft has a very good summary of spyware here, or check out Wikipedia's article for more in depth information. Many people use the terms spyware and adware interchangeably.
Running anti-spyware software has become a widely recognized element of computer security. Whether your computer is new or old, if you do not have anti-spyware software installed, it s not time to panic, but it is time to get some installed. Like all software I will talk about in this series, there are both free and commercial alternatives. I will concentrate on the free alternatives as this is aimed at people who are new to this, but I will always recommend a couple of commercial alternatives.
Over the years I have had to use many different pieces of software to do this job effectively. One would find pieces of adware that others would miss. These days the one I find to do the best job is Spyware Doctor Starter Edition. I think it beats out the old standard of running both Ad-Aware and SpyBot S & D. Another excellent choice is Spyware Terminator. If you are running a version of Windows older than XP, then this is the choice for you. Finally, Windows has recently come out with there on spyware detection software, Windows Defender. However, I would recommend that for some things as important as this, you take control of it yourself instead of leaving Windows to do it for you.
It is worth noting that Spyware Doctor is a part of the Google Pack of software. If you run this, you can keep it up to date automatically. Otherwise, you can download it from the direct link below.
Spyware Removal
The first step (after installing and updating) the software, is to run a system scan. This will look for any spyware installed on your computer. If this is the first time you've installed anti-spyware software, do the most complete scan the software will allow. Expect this to take a quite a while, anywhere from ten minutes to a couple of hours if your computer is running very slow or has a lot of spyware installed. Once the scan is complete you will see a list of spyware detected and have the option of removing it or quarantine it. Most software gives you an option of doing a backup of your system before removing the software. If this is the case, you can simply remove the software. If not, I would recommend just quarantine it so you can restore any application that you intentionally installed that may have been detected by the software. After the initial scan, you should do a full system scan every few months to remove any new software installed.
You also have the option of leaving the software running in the background after initially installing it. This allows it to detect any new spyware that attempts to install itself on your computer. Like running any software, this will slow your computer down a little bit, but you should not notice it for most applications. You can always temporarily turn off the spyware detection software if you run games or other applications that are processor intensive. Another advantage of leaving the software running in the background is you can schedule full system scans to be done automatically, usually late at night or another time when you do not expect to be using the computer.