Spyware - How do you know if you have it? How do you remove it?

While Dell doesn't like to mention the spyware companies, the users here have no problems talking about it.   You're looking for one of two programs that seem to be the front runners in detecting and eliminating spyware - AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy (SSD).  Both programs are adept at detecting and removing spyware, at slightly different levels of use.

AdAware is more of the AOL of spyware removal tools.  You download the software, click the scna button, it finds the spyware, and with another click, removes it.  It's that simple and easy to use for most users.  But it isn't quite as thorough or comprehensive as the other favorite, and has from time-to-time not kept up to date in it's spyware definitions.

SSD is more like a straight internet account - not much fluff, but loads of power if you know how to use it.  It can scan much deeper into your computer and find just about any spyware component and remove it.  But it can also find some things that are sometimes associated with spyware but are actually needed for legitimate programs, and try to remove it also.  It's really a better program if you really know what you're doing regarding your software, because it can easily disable a program that is completely legitimate.

There are a few other programs out there that will also do the same things.  I'm not familiar with any of them, so I'll leave a discussion of them to someone with more up-front knowledge of them.  But either SSD or AdAware will work for most users.