If your computer has ever started acting in strange ways by popping up advertising windows or taking you to places that you never intended to visit then there’s a good chance that your computer has been infected by adware or spyware. If you are experiencing that now there’s probably no way to immediately know whether you have a minor problem or a major problem. What we do know is that you have to deal with the problem quickly.

The term spyware refers to programs of various sorts which are snuck onto your computer by unscrupulous and unethical marketers. Sometimes that’s the best thing that can be said about them. Other times, carried to the extreme, these programs are installed on your computer by people who hope to steal everything that you have. Their game plan is to learn anything and everything about you and their goal is to destroy you financially. You simply must defend your self against spyware if you are going to be using your computer to access the Internet.

To make the spyware problem even worse is to realize that frequently these programs can be on your computer and you have no idea that they are even present. It is a recently revealed fact that nearly 9 out of 10 computers taken in for service or repair contained 10 or more spyware programs on their hard drives. In the majority of cases the spyware programs were present yet the computer owners had no clue that they were there.

The symptoms of spyware hidden on your computer and in operation range from the minor to the major. On the one hand they can be just minor irritations on the other hand they can be very dangerous when they are operating in your computer. You must take active steps to protect yourself from them.

Pop up ads are one of the very irritating manifestations of spyware in your computer. Frequently the spyware will monitor the keyword phrases that you type into a search engine and then when you click enter they will show ads related to the words that you had just entered in the search engine. Sometimes they are separate pop-up ads in separate windows while other times they will mix themselves in amongst the results that the search engine produces for your search terms. In any case they are extremely time wasting and irritating.

Another type of problem related to spyware is that which is referred to as a Trojan. A Trojan is a software program that to one degree or another is capable of taking over control of your computer. It can be used to play a joke on you by a so-called friend so that funny pictures pop up on your monitor at random and your computer does other strange things that surprise you. Trojans can also be used for more serious invasions by people in next door to you or in another country, even taking control of your computer without you realizing it and stealing information from your computer.

In a worst-case situation Trojans and spyware can be easily used to steal your identity. Passwords to your checking account and credit cards suddenly become easily assessable. People that would honestly describe themselves as incapable of doing you physical harm for some reason think it is perfectly okay to steal your money and your identity.

If you do not have some kind of software protection on your computer at the very least you are being very foolish. Yes, it can be an added expense, just like adding a monitor to your computer makes it more functional but costs additional money. In today’s society it is absolutely essential that you have some kind of constant protection on your computer so that you’re not invaded by spyware. Whether you use the free program from Microsoft or you spend the $30-$40 necessary to get heavy duty industrial strength anti-spyware software on your computer it’s most important that you do something and do it quickly. Otherwise, the next new website that you visit may be just the one that infects your computer and starts stealing your money and your identity later this evening. Just do something about the problem now. Protect yourself.