How to Combat Spyware

I'm sure many of you have encountered many Spywares such as when you open your internet explorer, it will direct you to some advertisement sites or suddenly your computer starts acting weird. I'll teach you some basic things to prevent and remove Spywares:

Signs of your computer is infected with Spywares:
1. IE (internet Explorer) goes to some weird websites like advertisment or porn instead of your usual homepage when you open IE.

2. Your IE has some funny looking tool bar.

3. Your IE always have popups.

4. Your computer is acting weird (example: hard disk lights keep blinking when your computer is idle, your firewall keep asking you to allow outgoing transmissions etc.)

5. Never seen before running processes (example: Iloveyou.exe) when you open the task manager.

If you have one of these symptoms you probably have spyware in your computer. Don't worry, here are some steps you can do to remove them.

Download LEGITIMATE anti-spyware programmes! Don't click on those pop up ads which tell you to download their anti-spyware software cause most likely they are spywares in disguise! Download those like Ad-aware and Spybot.

These programs will do a scan and remove them. Some of the spywares are very clever as they can come back again and again even after you deleted them. If so try to remove them in windows safe mode and after reboot check if they are still remaining by using Ad-aware or Spybot to scan or for experts, use the task manager to check for the same spyware process. If it is still there, consult the various antivirus websites like Pc-cillin on how to remove them.

Once done do check once every month to prevent any spywares in the future. Also to prevent infection, do not click on those pop up funny websites and use Alt-F4 to close them. There! a few simple steps to keep your computer clean!