Why Removing Spyware from Your Computer System is so Important

“IDC a top research and advisory company for the IT and 
telecommunications industries recently surveyed over 600 
organizations to determine what companies percieved to be 
the greatest security threats to their organizations, 
and the results of that survey showed that spyware was 
listed fourth. According to estimates, well over half 
of consumer computers are currently infected with some 
sort of adware and/or spyware.”1 Hence the need for
software adept at removing spyware.

One of the most potentially dangerous and annoying 
malicious software affecting the internet is spyware. 
Spyware are malicious software designed to steal 
confidential information such as computer passwords, 
credit card numbers, personal information etc. they 
also use popup ads without request and create a 
backdoor in your computer system so that a third party 
can manipulate your computer over the internet.  
Spyware also slows down your computer or laptop to 
a great extent. 

“According to a November 2004 study by AOL and the 
National Cyber-Security Alliance, 80% of surveyed users' 
computers had some form of spyware, with an average 
of 93 spyware components per computer.”2  Spyware 
can get into your system if you visit some spyware 
adding websites or if you download freeware or 
shareware over the internet.  The majority of the 
freeware available on the internet come with 
one or the other spyware. Spyware can also come 
as a Trojan that is it can come hidden in mp3 
files, songs, videos etc. Every time you play 
the multimedia file you activate the spyware. 

In spite of the dangerous consequences of spyware, 
it is fairly easy to remove spyware from your 
computer system with the help of few tools. The 
first tool that is required is an internet connection 
personal firewall or simply a firewall. I will 
assume that you already have read my article on 
firewalls so I will skip the firewall part. The 
next that is required is software for removing spyware. 
Finally to completely nail the coffin on 
spyware you need anti virus software.
 
What you need to do is get a spyware cleaner and then 
scan your system.  That’s all. But it is easier 
said than done.  There are hundreds of sites 
selling software for removing spyware on the internet.  
However most of them are malicious anti spyware programs 
which rather than curing your system will install 
even more damaging spyware on your system.  

Some of the fake spyware removal programs available 
on the net are : Malware Wipe,  AntiVirus Gold, 
SpyTrooper, WorldAntiSpy, PAL Spyware Remover, 
VirusBurst, SpywareStrike etc. Most of them are 
available for free download.  However there are 
genuine free antispywares also available like
Lavasoft’s Ad Aware. But there is a problem with 
free spyware detection programs in that they do 
not usually provide real time protection 
against spyware intrusion. There are commercially 
available programs also which do a 
better job of cleaning your system. However be 
careful to buy programs to remove spyware from 
reliable vendors only. For instance 
Spy Zap Removing Spyware Software
will detect and remove all harmful spyware 
from your system.

Once your purchase the program, 
install it in your computer by following the 
instructions. These are generally simple to 
follow and then carry out a thorough scan of 
your computer. The programs usually update 
themselves against new spyware when you connect 
to the internet. Keeping the programs updated
 helps keep your system free from spyware.

References:
1.“Spyware in the Enterprise: The problem 
and the solution”. Knowledgestorm. 01 December 2001.

2."AOL/NCSA Online Safety Study". America Online
& The National Cyber Security Alliance. October 2004