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Anyone who's used a personal computer for more than a week or two has undoubtedly noticed a gradual decrease in performance. There can be a number of causes for this, and a number of steps you can take to recover this lost performance. There are also a few preventative measures that can help keep your computer running at top efficiency. I've covered both free and commercial products to help you.

Crimeware (Viruses, Trojans, Keyloggers, etc)

Most computer users these days understand the necessity of maintaining protection against malicious infections. Computer viruses may once have been the tools of pranksters and glory seekers, but now they are financially motivated, designed to steal your identity, your money, and your data. They also exist to take control of your computer, giving hackers access to another node from which to launch attacks against other systems, send spam, and spread the infection to other computers. These programs try to remain hidden, but they eat up CPU cycles, waste bandwidth, and worse, could end up costing you a lot of money. The best defense against crimeware is to maintain good anti-virus software. The best commercial offering is Kaspersky. It costs about $40.00, it has received the most top honors of the products I surveyed, and you can download a 30-day free trial. To get good basic protection completely free, AVG Free is about the best program money can't buy.

Spyware and Adware - Sources and Removal

Spyware and Adware are two more types of malicious software (AKA
malware) that infect PCs. Spyware collects information about a user's surfing habits, purchasing preferences, etc. and sends it to marketing agencies. Adware presents unwanted advertisements to the user. The source of infection can be email attachments or files downloaded from the internet disguised as or embedded within useful software. Some
adware and spyware can also be picked up simply by surfing to certain websites (known as "drive-by infection").

Removal is usually accomplished with the aid of utilities written for this purpose. Spybot Search & Destroy and Adaware
are two long-standing products which offer free versions for personal, home use. One newer entry with which I've had good success is a free on-demand scanner / cleaner from Malwarebytes, which not only works against spyware and adware but also viruses and other types of malware. They also sell a commercial version which offers real-time protection for around $25.00. Kaspersky's

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