Tuesday, 15 April 2008

Remove Dangerous Spyware and Protect your System Now

By Robert Pearce

Syware is now destroying computers and lives all over the world. Thieves are gaining access to personal information like credit card info, bank accounts and passwords all from the pleasure of there own home. Spyware can also quickly destroy your pc leaving you with a pile of junk. Spyware has cost me three computers to date and I'm just plain sick of it. This article will give you the info on which software to install to make sure you are getting the best possible protection available.

But first what exactly is spyware?

If you are not computer savvy well spyware is a specially designed piece of software that will collect surfing habits and personal information once it has entered your PC. There are also certain types of spyware that can remain hidden in your computer until the owner of the program has given the command to activate. Once the command has been given you will start experiencing symptoms like pop ups appearing while not connected to the internet, computer running slow and not being able to connect to your usual home page to name a few. If this is the case well the chances are you are infected with some type of spyware.

What can I do?

Ok the first thing you should be thinking of is getting your self some software to remove any threats that are present on your computer. If you don't have the money at present there are a few free spyware removal tools available. Two such programs are Ad aware and Spy bot. Now please remember these are free software programs, my advice is to get a paid spyware removal software once you have the money. But for now just use one of mentioned programs above to at least remove what spyware they will detect. Then just clean out your computer.

Ok you now have a spyware free computer lets look at additional software to protect you even further.

Pop Up Blockers

Pop up blockers are a vital piece of software in preventing spware from entering your computer. Why is that? Let me explain. I'm sure you have come across pop ups while surfing the net, but one of the things i think people don't understand is they can be used as another tool to gain entry to your computer and plant spyware. You see once it appears on the web page your are surfing generally people think that pushing the X button closes the pop up and that's the end of it. But trust me that is not all ways the case. The X button can be changed to OK or Download with out you even knowing about it. While it stills looks like the close button you are actually giving the program permission to download. It will then proceed to plant spyware on your PC. In the event of this happening the best course of action to take is to log of the net immediately before the download completes. So you can see why blocking the pop up in the first place will prevent spyware from entering you computer. There are free pop up blockers available so get one installed immediately.

Anti-virus software

This is one of the best software programs you can have installed on your computer. Anti-virus software will detect and isolate any Trojans, key loggers and worms trying to gain access to your computer, usually when you are downloading a file or product off the net. This also gives you the ability to scan any emails you receive in your inbox. But please if you don't know who its from just delete it, opening emails from unknown senders is one of the more common causes of spyware infection.

Register Cleaners

This really is one of the best tools for cleaning out unused files. If you have removed any spyware or software programs lately this will detect and delete any unused files that have been left behind. You are also able to clean your cache, temporary Internet files and your browser's history. Doing all this will result in your computer running considerably faster.

Make sure you have a Firewall Installed

This is absolutely essential!! A firewall will protect you against hackers trying to enter your system. If you have what is called a "port" left open on your computer well hackers will find it and enter your system and can find and do basically anything they like. If you you're thinking "OK" I don't store any passwords or credit card details on my computer. Well let me tell you hackers are very good at what they do they can simply plant some spyware on your computer. Once you connect to a certain website that the owner of the program has chosen like bank websites or any website you are planning on using your credit card then the spyware will activate itself and begin sending your bank account, date of birth, user name, password and your home address back to them. This will result in Identity theft and is the worst-case scenario. Get one installed immediately.

All right if you take the time to install these types of software, all your personal information and computer will be protected from spyware. Just make sure to update each software at least once a week as there are new types of spyware hitting the Internet every day.

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