Spyware

You are being watched. Chances are very good there is spyware on your computer. These are small programs that track your movements on the web and send back the information to various people. Most of the time they in the form of harmless cookies but others can do more damage. That’s why I regularly run Ad-aware.

Ad-aware will scan your hard drive and help you clean any spyware that may be lurking on it. I run it once a week with my full anti-virus scan.

Another good source of spyware removal is Spychecker. Type in a name of a suspected program and Spychecker will tell you if it installs spyware during its installation. The site also has some good tips and links to learn more about spyware.

William Gibson, the guy who wrote Spinrite has a very nice website featuring various security measures you can take to protect your computer. One of the files, Opt-out was particularly good. Unfortunately the program has expired and is no longer available for download. But you should still visit his site for some invaluable information concerning your computer’s security.