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The main purpose of spyware is to monitor a person and their activity on the internet, the spyware then sends this data to someone else, usually a company or person, in most cases - spyware is simply used for advertising purposes, as a sort of survey that collects information without the user noticing, it can even be considered as less hassle than a real survey.
However some spyware can collect data that a person would not want collected, such as credit card numbers or personal contact details. This type of spyware is much more malicious and is one reason to ensure that you have no spyware at all. Another factor to be considered concerning the negative features of spyware, would be the adverse effects it can have on your computer - these effects can range from internet connection problems to programs crashing.
Such things are usually automatically classed as viruses, but most virus scanning tools are not designed with the purpose of detecting spyware in mind. When faced with the dilemma of how to remove spyware from your computer, try following these steps.
Firstly go to the start menu, click the "run" option and type "msconfig" into the text area, once in the program click the "startup" tab and untick every box, unless it is one that you know relates to a vital program such as your wireless connection.
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Once you have done this, click the "apply" tab then "ok", you will be asked to restart your computer, do so. What you have just done is prevent programs from starting when your computer does, this will not stop all spyware but it will make your computer run faster in aid of the other steps you need to take.
The next step towards purifying your PC is to get spyware removal software, the two that I would recommend are SpyBot S&D, and Ad-aware SE Personal Edition - both are free and easy to use, SpyBot also comes with a handy "immunise" feature that helps protect against spyware from getting to your computer in the first place. It is reccomended that you use more than one spyware protection program, as they vary in the types of spyware that they can detect and remove. The final step in basic spyware protection is to employ the service of a firewall, this will restrict and prevent the downloading of further spyware to your system.
The software I would recommend for this is "Outpost Firewall", it is very simplistic yet rather effective - and comes with a 30 day free trial. When you have taken these steps, and restarted your computer - you should notice that it runs much faster than before, if it doesn't then the problem may lie with hardware, or a virus.