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Sometimes, the Internet can be like a shark-infested sea. On the outside, it looks cool, attractive and inviting. But when you dive in... oops!

The world is full of con artists and fraudsters. They've found ways to exploit the innocent everywhere, and the Internet is no different. It doesn't take much to get a secret program onto an unwary computer to steal important personal information and access to your banking details. Or it may be as simple as tracking how you use the Internet so they can bombard you with unwanted ads, hijack your browser to take you to the sites they want you to see, and fill up your inbox with spam. These secret programs are called spyware, because that's what they do: they spy on you to reap some benefit.

The only way to avoid these programs altogether is never to connect to the Internet. They really are everywhere! But that's a bit like saying never go into the sea on a sunny day. The trick is to avoid the shark-infested waters and learn how to enjoy the sea safely. So just like you need a daily anti-virus scan, you also need software to protect you from spyware.

Step 1 is to scan your computer and get rid of existing spyware.

Top of my list is AVG Anti-Spyware, a free program from http://free.grisoft.com. It does almost everything you would expect from a paid-for program, for personal use only. It will do full system scans or customised ones. It allows you to schedule regular, automatic scans - something most free programs don't offer. It also allows you to create an exceptions file: some programs look like spyware but aren't; others have conditions that require you to accept spyware in order to run the program.

Spybot Search and Destroy from http://www.spybot.info is a very close second, and may be program of choice for some people. It's free, though donations are welcome. It doesn't offer regular scheduled scans, nor an exceptions file, but it will give you information about what it finds so you can decide whether you need to keep it. Simply uncheck the relevant box before you click the "Fix Selected Problems" button. Spybot can also back up your registry, in case malware, a variation of spyware that actually damages your system, corrupts it. It does offer an "Immunize" option - and this leads me into step 2.

Step 2 is to block incoming spyware as much as possible. It's not 100%, just like anti-virus, because new spyware is always being made, so you need regular database updates.

Spybot Search and Destroy's Immunize option is your protection

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