Some not-so-startling news reported by The Register today:
PCs scanned using a free scanning service from US ISP giant EarthLink harboured an average of 28 items of spyware, according to figures published yesterday.
Not only does spyware invade your privacy on various levels, but it can also be a primary reason for the “my computer’s just not working right anymore” blues.
My advice? Take a little time, do some research, and clean up your system. You might want to give Earthlink’s Spyaudit a try, to see if you’re harboring any evil software. If you are, try grabbing a copy of Lavasoft’s Ad-aware, free spyware removal software to blast the critters. You might also want to try a more secure and standards-compliant browser than Internet Explorer. Several of us have been using Mozilla Firefox for a while and haven’t looked back…
Anyway, happy hunting!