It would seem like all you hear about are Pop-Ups, SPAM, Spyware and viruses - a multitude of possible ways to annoy and destroy. There are individuals who produce these little web applications that either fill your screen with pop-up ads, redirect you to a website of their choice, or even worse collect information about you without your knowledge. What you don't hear a lot about are the ways to combat these problems.

A lot of people have no idea how these applications got installed on their computers in the first place, but the truth of the matter is the end user unknowingly invited these applications in. This could happen when visiting certain websites, installing a Peer-to-Peer or "File Sharing" program, or even closing a pop-up box incorrectly. Your first line of defense is to avoid these situations but as these method of advertising matures it becomes harder not to. There are a couple things you can easily do to safe guard your system and minimize the effects of these programs. You may even see your computer working better when you are done.

Two of the most widely known problems are pop-up ads and spyware. Let us take a look at both and some possible solutions that you can implement in minutes.

Pop Up Ads
Pop-ups are those annoying windows that suddenly appear when you go to a website and in some case the pop-up can launch another pop-up until your entire desktop is cluttered with "junk banners." Pop-ups on require you to close each individual window and if that weren't tedious enough, some pop-ups include a close button that looks real but actually re-directs to the target site or downloads spyware to your system. If there are enough pop-up windows up, your system will be sluggish and browsing the Internet will take forever.

For the most part pop-up ads are not really damaging but rather a growing annoyance, they seem to pop-up at the most inopportune time. Google, a widely recognized search engine, offers a toolbar that includes a tool that prevents these pop-up ads from ever opening in the first place. Normally you want to steer clear of most browser "helper" toolbars, but Google's is the exception. The nice thing about Google's toolbar is that they acknowledge the fact that some pop-ups are good and they have provided a simple way to turn the pop-up blocker tool off and on.

How it works. First you will need to install the Google toolbar. Simply visit http://toolbar.google.com/, you will need to be using Microsoft's Internet Explorer to install this toolbar.
To install it simply select your preferred language and click the Download Google Toolbar, then follow the on screen instructions for the installer.

Google Toolbar Features:

• Search the web with Google from any site
• Eliminate pop-up ads
• Fill in forms with one click
• Highlight search terms on a page

Once installed, Google will block all pop-up ads. However, there may be certain instances when you want the pop-up blocker to allow pop-ups. You can allow certain pop-ups by modifying the settings in the pop-up blocker. Read the help file at http://toolbar.google.com/popup_help.html to get better acquainted with all the options available.
After you install this handy little application you will see the results instantly.

Spyware
Spyware is a different type of problem; it can be defined as any type of technology used to gather information about a person or company without their consent or even knowledge. With the Internet, it is put on someone's computer to secretly gather information and send it back to advertisers or other interested parties. It can get on to your computer in a variety of ways; installing a new program with the spyware attached as a virus, a toolbar program, or even closing a pop up box incorrectly. Some data collecting programs that are installed with the users knowledge is not necessarily bad as long as the user knows what information is being collected and where it is being sent.

There is a very thorough Spyware package called Spybot-S&D. Not only does this package remove spyware, but it also removes the following malware:

• Adware
• Dialers
• Keyloggers
• Trojans
• Usage Tracks
• Threatening ActiveX downloads

As always, we ask that you support these developers who offer their applications for free by donating to them where appropriate.

Adaware
The best way to determine if your system may be running spyware is to scan it with a program that detects data collecting programs. A good all around application is Adaware. You can download it from Lavasoft at http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/. Follow the installation instructions and launch the program. From there you will be guided through the scanning process and the results.

CWShredder
A particular variant of Spyware sends unsuspecting users to unknown sites when they click on a link in something like a search results page. These links usually redirect to porn sites or similar types of sites. This is due to the Coolwebsearch tool. There is a great resource for this at http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html. You can rid your self of this problem by downloading the latest version of CWShredder, however you should check back often for updates as Coolwebsearch is constantly changing.

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