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Preventing a total spyware takeover on your PC is a job that requires the right tools and practices. While it's not hard to find yourself held hostage by crawling boot speeds, spontaneous freezes and the ever-so-embarrassing porn pop-ups, there are simple, effective measures you can take to prevent it.

The most effective tool against spyware is caution. It often comes hidden with other software, usually the "freeware" kind downloaded from the internet. You can prevent a ton of problems with a quick internet search on the software you are contemplating downloading to see if it has received bad reviews.

Another preventive measure is using Firefox (firefox.com) instead of Internet Explorer. Firefox has much better security and leaves less opportunities for spyware to infect your system.

If your computer is already riddled with malicious software, causing it to be almost too slow to work on, you may have a formidable amount of work ahead of you, and it may be best to carefully backup your important files, re-format and re-install your operating system. Whether you choose to do so or not, the following steps will help to remove the junk on your machine and keep you in control:

1. Manually uninstall garbage

The best place to start is the Add/Remove Software applet in the control panel. Look through all the applications installed, one-by-one, and determine whether you actually need the software. Beware that certain applications you may use actually come with spyware built in, and you might want to find malware-free alternatives. A quick Google search can often reveal whether some thing is packaged with spyware. Remove anything that you determine is not needed.

2. Use spyware scanners

Spyware scanners are similar to virus scanners, except they scan for and remove spyware. Two effective scanners are Spybot: Search and Destroy and Adaware, available for free from safer-networking.org and lavasoftusa.com, respectively. You can chose one or use them both; they compliment each other very well. Adaware is known for more thorough spyware removal, while Spybot: S&D comes with some really nice tools on the advanced menu such as registry cleanup. It also features an "Immunize" tool to prevent you from downloading spyware in the first place.

Run a scan ("check for problems" in Spybot: S&D) and allow it to do a startup mode scan. Try to update and scan your system for spyware at least once a month.

3. Use a virus scanner.

Unlike spyware scanners, virus scanners to not compliment each other well. Use only one, or you could run into conflicts. Two excellent, free virus scanners are Avast! and AVG. Get them at avast.com and free.grisoft.com. Run a complete system scan, including a startup scan after installing and try to run a scan at least once a month thereafter.

Like I said in the second paragraph, the best measure against spyware is for you to be mindful of what you download. Just because something promises free weather reports on your desktop or a better way to search the internet from a toolbar, doesn't mean that it's actually free or even useful. It probably comes jam packed with malware. As a rule of thumb, don't install something unless it's something that you are specifically looking for. If it was really that useful it wouldn't have to snare you with advertisements and ask you to install it-you'd be seeking it out.

Learn more about this author, Zac Stewart.
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