Anti-Spyware Tools
SpyWare is a type of software that get's into your system, generally as a result of visiting particular web sites, usually without the users permission. Once installed SpyWare can do a number of things such as tracking and reporting your web browsing habits, recording your keystrokes (ie passwords), change your browsers start page and generally interfere with your computing experience. Some of these symptoms are merely annoyances but other can cause problems and if there are alot of these programs installed you can begin to notice a drop in performance.
Anti-SpyWare tools work a bit like anti-virus tools by searching for and removing all known spyware. As with anti-virus programs it's important to keep them up to date. Both of the anti-SpyWare tools featured below have built in internet update functions which help you keep them updated. It's a good idea to run one of these tools once every week or two to get rid of any nasties that have crept it. You will also find that some tools pickup SpyWare that another has missed so to be really sure it's a good idea to run more than one of them. I use Ad-Aware primarily and also SpyBot occassionally. Both are free to download and install, but if you want to part with some money, Ad-Aware has a professional version available and SpyBot accepts donations.
"With its ability to comprehensively scan your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known datamining, aggressive advertising, and tracking components, Ad-aware will provide the user with the confidence to surf the Internet knowing that their privacy will remain intact. Let Ad-aware protect your privacy."
"Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm in trying to see if something snooped into your computer, too :)"