Anti-spyware Remover: Good News Bad News

Do you need to protect your computer with anti-spyware remover software? How much of a risk does spyware pose to your computer?

The bad news is spyware is everywhere and your computer can easily be infected by simply browsing the internet or making downloads of various items. Some spyware simply records your internet browsing activity generally with the purpose of understanding your likes and dislikes so advertising relative to your habits can be sent your way.

A more invasive form of spyware can log your keystrokes so your credit card information, tax ID, and other personal information can be made available to others even to the point of stealing your identity. Obviously this poses the major risk and threat.

If you notice a sudden deterioration in the speed of your computer, coupled with popup windows appearing all over the place, even when you are not even browsing the internet, take note! Or if your browser starts giving strange results and doesn't automatically go to google or yahoo or whichever search engine you normally use, it could be spyware has infected your computer and is deluging you with adverts or providing search results that have been tampered with.

The good news is that you can obtain for free anti-spyware remover programs that do a reasonable job of keeping your computer clean. Microsoft have their own called Windows Defender. Another is Ad-Aware, and the free virus scanner from AVG also contains an anti-spyware remover. Before you hand your money over for one of the anti-spyware remover programs advertised on the net, why not try the free versions. Just pop those names into your favorite search engine and you will get to the download page for each one.

The bad news is, there are gaps in whatever anti-spyware remover you use. Most of these program are looking for pieces of code that ring alarm bells as they are identified with rogue software, a list of which is kept in a database. So the effectiveness of the anti-spyware remover is only as good as the database. New spyware code is being written and circulated all the time so there is bound to be a time lapse from when it starts to when it is identified and added to anti-spyware remover databases. Therein lies the risk.

The good news is you can put up a reasonably effective screen around your computer that will greatly minimize the threat by employing the following basic tactics:

1. You can use two or three different anti-spyware remover programs regularly. As their respective databases will be different, what one misses another may catch.

2. Make sure you enable the firewall on your computer or buy a third party firewall for extra protection.

3. Make sure you update your anti-spyware remover programs regularly and Windows updates which fill security holes.

4. An obvious protection but still worth re-stating: Never open emails you don't recognize, or at least, never, never, never, download or open attachments from senders you don't know.

When it comes to anti-spyware remover programs, the bad news is spyware can be very difficult to shut out completely as the landscape is changing all the time. The good news is, you can protect yourself reasonably well with free anti-spyware remover programs, common sense, and an awareness of your computer's performance so you immediately notice when things are 'not quite right'. Don't ignore it. Investigate and save yourself potential grief!


Copyright (c) 2009 Michael A Jones