Recognizing and Avoiding Spyware

Yesterday a patron asked me why her home computer was suddenly showing lots of pop-up windows. This is a typical sign that her computer is infected with spyware. Other symptoms of an infected computer include:

* you are redirected to web sites other than the one you typed into your browser
* new, unexpected toolbars appear in your web browser
* new, unexpected icons appear in the task tray at the bottom of your screen
* your browser's home page suddenly changed
* the search engine your browser opens when you click "search" has been changed
* random Windows error messages begin to appear
* your computer suddenly seems very slow when opening programs or processing tasks (saving files, etc.)

This list was taken from Recognizing and Avoiding Spyware, which explains more about spyware and how to get rid of it. For a demonstration of programs that remove spyware, register for my computer security program, Your Computer Needs a Flu Shot, Too to be held on September 13 at 10:00 a.m.