Free Spyware Info

Spyware is a widely used term and usually includes adware, malware, keyloggers, Trojan horses, hijackers, dialers, rootkits, rogue anti spyware, worms and unwanted toolbars.

The most dangerous spyware is keyloggers. Keyloggers can secretly record all the keystrokes on your computer and send it to someone else. For example: keyloggers can capture the login details for your bank account and other sensitive information.

Spyware is different than viruses because it doesn't spread to other computers. Instead spyware infects a users computer usually through deceptive and sometimes illegal tactics. Often times free software downloads like free screensavers will include spyware. Some web sites have spyware that will automatically infect any computer that enters the site.

There are two main ways to find spyware and remove it off your pc. You can do it manually or better yet buy anti spyware software.

Some spyware is extremely hard to remove manually. Sometimes the computer is put into safe mode to find and remove spyware. Generally it is recommended to buy anti spyware software to remove your spyware as this ensures it is completely and safely remove. Plus good anti spyware software will include a guard feature that will prevent future infection.

There are a few different ways that anti spyware vendors use to find and catalogue spyware in order to add it to their database. The most commonly used method is to have people who manually download spyware onto their computer and analyze it and add it to the spyware database.

Another less common method is having users send scan reports to the antispyware vendor after each scan. The vendor then looks at these reports and tries to find the spyware to add to the database.

The third method which is only used by a few companies is a robot. The robot is used to automatically surf the internet, download spyware and analyze it. This is the fastest and most accurate way of detecting new spyware.

The top quality antispyware software uses a cryptographic signature such as md5 or crc32 to detect spyware. This method reduces false positives and allows the software to remove spyware that changes file names automatically.

Spyware can cause various problems on your pc. Everything from showing popups, being redirected to websites you don't want to go to, unwanted toolbars and even stealing info like passwords. If you experience any of these problems you probably have spyware on your computer.

If you're the average computer user it can be difficult to know the difference between the legitimate anti spyware software and the scams. Here are some tips on what to look for in a quality program:

Full scan: Anti spyware software should do a Full Scan of your entire computer. This feature is extremely important because a lot of spyware will change file names to avoid detection. A full scan will find and remove spyware based on a cryptographic signature like md5 to remove hard to remove spyware that changes file names.

Guard feature: Quality antispyware software will have an extensive guard system to prevent spyware from getting on your pc.

Spyware Database Updates: with new spyware being released constantly a good spyware remover should download new updates automatically at least once per day.

Real Customer Support: Tech support that speaks English and answers your questions within a few hours (not days).

100% removal: Independent testing by leading sources like PC World magazine confirm that no antispyware software can remove all your spyware on the first scan. That's why it's important to choose antispyware software that provides you with a free custom update to remove all your spyware if it wasn't removed on the first scan.

Simple to use: Antispyware software should be simple to use and automate common tasks like scanning and downloading updates. You should be able to set it and forget it.

Highly awarded: The antispyware software you choose should have won legitimate awards from independent organizations.

Better Business Bureau member: With so many anti spyware scams on the internet I would only recommend buying from a company that belongs to the BBB. In order to be a BBB member a company must be in business for at least one year and satisfactorily resolve any customer complaints.

I'm a computer programmer by trade and I read up a lot about computer security issues. Whenever a friend has a computer problem they always call me. So I know great software when I see it.

The only anti spyware software that I've been able to find that meets all the above criteria is SpyZooka. SpyZooka is the only company that guarantees 100% spyware removal. Here is the link for SpyZooka:

SpyZooka Spyware Remover