If you’ve been online for more than a few weeks, you’ve undoubtedly heard the term ‘spyware’. This page will teach you what spyware is, and how to get rid of it (for FREE!).

1. Spywhat?

What is Spyware?

Spyware is a scourge on the internet, spyware is malicious software designed to be installed on a person’s personal computer often without their knowledge; where it runs silently, collecting information about your behavior and then using your computer to transmit this valuable behavioral data back to the originating company. Many forms of spyware also launch pop-ups (Learn how to block pop ups), modify search engine results pages and use other forms of ‘trickery’ to get advertising in front of the computer’s users.

How is Spyware Spread?

Spyware does not usually self-replicate. That means that in order for your computer to become infected by most spyware applications, you have to perform some action such as installing a plug-in to view a web site or installing some other software for your computer. Most of the spyware that infests people’s computers comes silently bundled with another piece of desirable software such as a toolbar, weather and time program, or one of many other free downloads. Some companies that develop free software such as Weatherbug (A weather forcasting tool) and Kazaa (a file-sharing tool) are paid by advertisers to hide spyware in with their ‘free’ software, installing the unwanted advertising software on millions of computers without the consent of the end-user. Following is a list of some of the most common spyware-laden ‘free’ applications and software packages. Look familiar? If so, read on and learn how to get rid of these craplications.

• Weatherbug
• Realplayer media player
• MyWebSearch Toolbar
• Comet Cursor
• Cool Web Search
• Internet Optimizer
• 180 Solutions
• HuntBar / WinTools
• Grokster
• Kazaa
• Download Accelerator Plus
• FlashGet
• GoZilla
• NetAnts
• Any “Gator” or “GAIN” products

Spyware and System Performance

One or two pieces of spyware usually aren’t noticeable unless they spawn pop-ups or other forms of advertising. Problems normally only begin to manifest as the number of active spyware programs increases, causing a greater drain on your system resources. A major problem with many forms of spyware is that they are very poorly designed, making the code inefficient and often buggy – If you have spyware on your computer and you experience unexplained ‘crashes’, ‘lock-ups’ or critical errors, it’s likely that the cause is a buggy piece of spyware hiding in your computer and crashing things as it tries to spy on you.

2. How to Get Rid of Spyware FREE

Here I will introduce you to some of the best FREE products on the market for getting this nasty spyware off of your computer. I keep capitalizing the word ‘free’ to emphasize that I am not trying to sell you something here. All of the programs I am about to recommend to you are absolutely free, and the best at what they do. In fact, most of these free spyware-removal utilities are better than the crap many other sites try to sell you. In fact, there are dozens of anti-spyware programs that not only cost your hard earned money, but are complete frauds and do nothing to remove spyware from your machine. Beware! I will begin with an overview of the least technical solutions and then move on to more advanced programs. Chances are you will only need to use one of the next two programs to take care of 99% of your spyware problems.

Easy-To-Use Spyware Removal Programs

1. Spybot Search and Destroy Spybot is one of the most popular free anti-spyware applications currently available. It is constantly being updated to detect the newest spyware threats and is very simple to use. When you open the software for the first time it will walk you step-by-step through the actions needed to scan and remove any spyware that it detects on your computer. Highly recommended.
2. Ad-Aware Personal Ad-Aware is another popular anti-spyware application that will scan you computer and remove spyware. It seems to be just about as popular and as effective as Spybot Search and Destroy, but as with most well-matched competing products you will find people that swear by one or the other. If you are in doubt, there is no harm in installing and running both programs. Sometimes one will catch some stuff that another does not, but this is generally not needed.

Advanced Spyware Removal Tools

Here we will discuss some programs that require a degree of technical understanding to use effectively. Be warned that you can potentially mess up your computer if you use any of these tools and don’t know what you are doing. Merijn.org contains several free tools that are well worth investigating if you wish to delve deeper into the bowels of your computer in search of spyware and other malicious code. Visit their download page for an overview of the free goodies available and if any of these programs help you save your computer, consider donating a couple of bucks to the program’s creator for his time. One tool that is definitely worth looking into is HijackThis! HijackThis! Is a handy little tool that scans your registry and hard drive and displays programs and add-ons in areas that are commonly targeted by spyware, virii, and other unwanted code. This site offers step-by-step instructions on the usage of this software. Read through it and if you’re confident you can use this tool effectively then give it a shot - but be warned, you can disable many legitimate programs if you remove the wrong items. Well, that’s about it. You've just had a crash course in spyware and some of the best free spyware-removal applications out there. Safe and happy surfing! For more information regarding this article, read how to remove spyware.