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Spyware Program
There are many symptoms to it. A slowing of your computer, a vast
number of pop ups and the inability to go to the website that you
type in without being sidetracked to another website, often the same
site over and over again. These are all symptoms of spyware
infection.
If you believe that your computer has been infected with spyware, it
is time to give serious consideration to a spyware program. This is
to say, software that eliminates spyware from your system, and
preventing further incursions at a later date. There are numerous
programs available on the market. Yet all programs are not alike.
Some of the software that you may run across is almost as bad as the
spyware itself, as hefty, false claims are made.
These bad forms of a spyware program are called rogue anti-spyware
products. One of their habits is to offer you a free check of your
computer system and then outright lie by saying that you're infected
with, say, fifty different forms of spyware. While it may be true
that you have one or two such programs on your system, sometimes
your computer will be absolutely clean and yet you'll be pushed into
buying software that you don't need. There are websites available
detailing these cowboy products.
The following discusses a few of the more reputable programs
available. Microsoft makes an anti-spyware system that is free
online. In addition to the spyware program, you can educate yourself
further with a free tutorial about this subject. Another fine
software is Spybot 1.4 (and continually being upgraded). A small
tutorial is available online along with this software to help you
properly install it.
Other programs of note include Ad-Aware SE Personal, also to be
found for free online at lavasoft; Webroot's Spysweeper, CounterSpy
by Sunbelt, and the Ewido Security Suite. Some of these latter
programs offer both a free version and one that must be paid for.
When in doubt, pay for it, as you'll get a stronger program.
As a final bit of advice, while more is often better, in terms of
anti-spyware programs, the opposite is true. Utilizing more than one
program can be detrimental or simply useless. This is not unlike
anti-virus programs, which, as many are aware, when using more than
one program, the programs will read each other as having viruses and
so waste time that could be better spent on the real problem.
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