2. How does adware and spyware get installed into your pc?

(a) Have you ever browsed a website and a windows dialog box pops up asking you a question? Have you ever clicked the cancell button? Well that’s how someone can trick you into installing adware and spyware into your pc.

(b) Have you ever downloaded freeware? Marketing companies pay freeware software authors to include adware and spyware in their freeware software. So when you install freeware software, you’re probably installing adware and spyware.

3. What can adware and spyware do to harm you? Adware just displays advertisement on your pc. Most adware software is also spyware software. Beside dispaying advertisement, it tracks your browsing habbits and sends that data to a marketing company. But it can also send your usernames and passwords and other sensitive data to a third party… And it causes perfomance problems.

4. How can I prevent installing adware and spyware?

(a) Install Anti-Spyware software. Ad-ware and Spybot have free versions. Keep them updated.

(b) Make sure the software (freeware, shareware and other) you install doesn’t include adware and spyware. Read the license agreement carefully. Search Google Groups for the name of the program and the keywords adware and spyware.

(c) Install a pop-up blocker

5. My computer is infected with adware and spyware. What should I do? Buy a new computer. Joking! Install and run the ad-ware and spybot free versions. That should do the job. If you want to remove adware and spyware manually, read this guide: http://www.michaelhorowitz.com/removespyware.html