If you’ve been on the Internet for any length of time, you’ve heard that spyware is something you’d like to avoid, and nothing could be more true. Spyware can have many downsides, from slowing your computer to a crawl to allowing an outsider access to your financial records. It’s not something you want to toy with.

I’ve always used software to keep my computer protected, but I once set up a computer for my kids and the spyware software was somhow disabled. the results were nothing short of memorable.

I wasn’t worried about identity theft in this case, as the system was locked down with parental control settings and segregated from the rest of our home network. but somehow my son had managed to load the machine down with every imaginable piece of spyware out there, from toolbars to cursor-changers and other seemingly innocent toys, all of which were, at the very least, tracking each and every website he and my other kids visited.

I wouldn’t have been aware that there was a problem if he hadn’t told me that his system was running slowly. Terribly slowly. As a matter of fact, there were so many intrusive pieces of software on the system that I couldn’t even run my regular spyware removal software to get rid of it. I had to reinstall everything from scratch.

Talk about a wasted Saturday.

There are new tools available to combat this menace. Tools that would have prevented this problem from ever occurring by blocking the spyware before it ever had a chance to install on the system. The most comprehensive I’ve found so far is Spy Sweeper. I wish I’d had that then, it would have saved me and my family a lot of grief.

Spy Sweeper is award winning anti-spyware software that monitors your computer, and in the event that it detects a threat, it will stop the nasty little spyware infested program from installing in the first place. I definitely recommend running this in conjunction with your AntiVirus software.

Be safe, spyware can compromise your system and allow other people to get information you don’t want them to have. At its most benign, it’s collecting information about the sites that you visit without your permission, that’s just wrong, and you can stop it by using products like Spy Sweeper.

Don’t let spyware get you.