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Spyware and other net hazards

I'm not endorsing the software, but I spent most of today working with Lavasoft's Ad-Aware. My father kept getting these popup ads every fifteen minutes, even when he didn't have a web-browser open, and I spent ages researching the various spyware and adware programs out there to see what he'd done.

The program's pretty good. If you're a standard web browser, you might be surprised to find out what you've got on your machine.

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Anthony, for comparison purposes check out Spybot Search and Destroy at http://security.kolla.de/index.php lang=en&page=start. You'll find that both programs miss some things -- I use them both at the same time to get rid of spyware/adware.
I use the ad-aware as well, on my windoze box at work. I'm always suprised, as well, of the level of crap that I pickup in basic surfing...
I'll second the endorsement of Spybot Search and Destroy. You can configure that program to block the download of spyware and to inform you via a pop up dialog box when it's blocking a spyware download. That can be a real eye opening experience; a lot of sites there are trying to hijack your computer without you knowing it.

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