The invisible spy-ware

Spy-ware is not a virus so it leaks through most virus scanners. Spy-ware is software installed on a computer without the user's knowledge that gathers information about that user for later retrieval by whomever controls the spy-ware. Spy-ware will not usually take your computer clear down.

There are different categories, surveillance Spy-ware and advertising Spy-ware.  Details on how a Spy-ware works is beyond the scope of this text

Here is one sample.  Advertising spy-ware is software that is installed alongside other software or via activex controls on the internet, often without the user's knowledge or without full disclosure that it will be used for gathering personal information and/or showing the user ads. Advertising spy-ware logs information about the user, possibly including passwords, e-mail addresses, web browsing history, online buying habits, the computer's hardware and software configuration, the name, age, sex, etc of the user.

How to get your spy-ware scanner

Below is one of the free versions of a great Spy-scanner.
“Ad aware” a great Spy-ware scanner with a complete version for free.
Go to the site and read the details.
Click  the Green icon  “Download.com” on the right side of the site.
Then click “download now down”
Save the file in your download folder on your computer
Go to your download folder and click on the file the download file to do the install.
Find Spy-ware scanner at http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Microsoft now has a free spy-ware scanner. We tried the beta version of the spy-ware scanner. It appears to works Okay. It is more complicated the ad-aware above. It only works on Windows XP, 2000, 2003. Microsoft is asking you to register your Windows with them first, before doing the download. However you can opt out of registering for now.
nhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en