Not even a geek could slay this beast

A few years ago, I downloaded a program a friend suggested I try. The application worked well at first--incredibly well considering it was "free." After I turned on my computer the next day, I noticed all my desktop icons were rearranged. Some had been deleted and others had been added. My Favorites list and start page had been modified, too. To top that, my 56K connection was inching along even more slowly than before (which I previously hadn't thought possible).

My first thought was that my machine was infected with a virus. I downloaded virus definitions and ran Norton AntiVirus but didn't find anything. I figured the culprit had to be spyware. I had three spyware-removal applications on my PC, but that day I downloaded even more. In fact, I used every program I could find--all to no avail.

How could it be that I, a self-proclaimed geek, could not find the problem? I ended up reinstalling Windows, which, naturally, solved my problem. This was my day in spyware hell!

--Chris
Virginia, U.S.A.

Plenty of supposedly "free" programs are loaded with adware, spyware, and all kinds of nasties. In actuality, these programs can do so much damage to your computer and waste so much of your time that you may wish you had just plunked down $20 or $40 to buy a license for a spyware-free application. Running your antiviral program was a smart first step, and you did the right thing by using as many spyware-removal utilities as you could find. Unfortunately, companies that manufacture these insidious invaders always seem to be one step ahead of the antispyware folks, so a brand-new pest may be able to spread across the Web for a while before the removal programs catch up. Reinstalling Windows is always a last resort, but sometimes it's the only foolproof solution.

--Download.com editors

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