One of the new ways criminals are using the internet is by spreading a spyware virus.

Spyware and adware are becoming commonplace on the internet, and it is essential that all computer users take the necessary steps to protect themselves from the damage they can do.

What is spyware anyway?

The term spyware virus actually covers a broad range of different items. For instance, there are spyware viruses that are relatively benign. These types of viruses may just record the sites you visit and use that information to send you advertisements or flood your browser with pop-up ads. While these spyware viruses are incredibly annoying, and most users would consider them an invasion of privacy, they are by no means the most harmful of this group.

The more harmful spyware viruses are those that attempt to steal your personal and private information, mostly financial information, and use it for ill gotten means. Just about everyone has heard the stories about the problems of identity theft, and many cases of identity have originated with the planting of a spyware virus on the victims computer. Unknown to the computer user, the spyware sits on the PC, quietly collecting sensitive private information like Social Security numbers and account numbers.

A challenging and dangerous problem

Whilst this type of spyware is bad enough, there is a variant that is potentially even more damaging. There are a growing number of spyware viruses that are in effect key logger programs. These programs exist to capture sensitive information like passwords and account numbers, and with so many people using online banking and investing it is easy to see how damaging this kind of information could be. These spyware viruses work by recording every keystroke a user makes on his or her computer, then those keystrokes are sent on to a third party, who uses them to steal valuable information.

The best protection against these kinds of spyware viruses is a solid anti virus software program, together with a good anti spyware program and spyware removal tool. More and more anti virus programs are incorporating spyware detection and removal into their products, but at the moment it is still better to install several different products. Anti spyware programs like Adaware, Spybot Search and Destroy and Spysweeper to an excellent job at keeping spyware off your computer.

Of course the best way to keep those spyware viruses off your computer is to run your anti virus software and spyware removal programs every day.

The programs will then report back on problems they have found, and give the user the option of what to do. After you have determined that a particular program truly is a spyware virus, you can remove it. Most anti spyware programs do a good job of fully removing any spyware they find, but it never hurts to run a second scan to make sure the spyware virus has been eliminated.

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