There’s nothing quite as annoying as pop-up ads or a computer that no longer has the performance it once had. If it takes you forever to open up applications and you seem to spend more time watching the hour glass on your computer than accomplishing anything it might be a good time to try a free adware spyware scan to see if hidden malware is the problem.
These two types of malware, spyware and adware, wreak havoc on millions of computers everyday. In many cases most people don’t even realize that it has been sneakily installed on their hard drive until it’s to late and their computers performance slows to a crawl as pop-up ads bombard them faster then they can click them away.
If this sounds familiar then there is a good chance you are getting more then annoyed and moving to the frustrated phase of dealing with spyware related computer issues. There are many reasons you need to protect yourself from these programs and the best place to start is with using one of the many free adware spyware scans that many software companies provide directly from their websites.
If your still not convinced that this malware can cause irreparable harm to you and your computer let’s take a quick look at what some of these programs are capable of.
The first is a little program called a key logger. This insidious little bugger records all your keystrokes and forwards them on to whoever created the program. In this manner hackers can gain access to passwords, credit card numbers, bank and financial account numbers and information, and even your social security number. This opens you to all sorts of problems with identity theft.
Other forms of spyware and adware make changes to your registry settings, slowing computer performance. It can also secretly change your security setting leaving your computer open to further downloads that will create all forms of havoc on your PC. In the worst case these malware programs can bring your computers performance to a slow and painful halt, making it nearly impossible to accomplish anything.
If the specter of adware and spyware infecting your computer is a scary proposition the first step on the road to protecting yourself is doing a free adware spyware scan before these programs seemingly gain control of your PC.