Spyware, Adware, Dialers...

Spybot - Search & Destroy - Free
Spyware, browser  hijackers,  adware,  dialers and Trojans are all varieties of malicious software, and they can make you want to lock up your computer in the closet and go back to calculators and writing letters!  

Spyware may be on your computer if:

• You see a new toolbar in your Internet Explorer that you didn't install intentionally
• Your browser crashes 
• Your browser's  start page suddenly has changed  

Be cautious and understand what  Spyware is before you run this or any other "remover."  Spyware is commonly installed along with another application, such as The Kazaa Media Desktop. Kazaa installs along with itself a piece of spyware/adware called Gator. Gator can be detected and removed, but once you do so, you will no longer be able to use Kazaa. 

Fortunately, Spybot can detect all of it.

This wonderful piece of software can detect and remove from your computer more Spyware than you knew existed . Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet detect or address.  

Spybot comes with many other administrative tools, such as a secure file shredder and utilities to view and control your startup processes, DLL's, ActiveX apps and more. 

Another worthy mention is the Ad-Aware Standard Edition.  Put out by Lavasoft, Ad-Aware is the grandfather so to speak of spyware/adware detection and removal tools.  Both pieces of software do what they claim to do, but with Spybot, there is no constant upsell attempt and no advertising of features that only work on the paid product.  Also, Spybot has that lovely suite of tools.

Glossary

Spyware -   Programming that is installed on someone's computer, usually via an Internet download of freeware, to gather information about the user secretly and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties.

Adware -  Any software application in which advertising banners are displayed while the program is running.

Browser Hijackers - Malicious snippets of code that can be loaded through normal viewing of a  Web   page and can change your Internet settings or steal information from your PC.

Dialers - Commonly known as "porn dialers ," this variety of Trojan takes control of your dial-up connection, changing it to a pay-per-minute service that quickly adds big charges to your phone bill.

Trojans -  A program containing malicious or harmful code inside apparently harmless programming or data .  The harmful code damages the computer system.