Many people have heard the term “spyware” before, yet not everyone knows what it means. The fact is, spyware is all over the internet, and is one of the greatest problems computer users face on a daily basis. Keeping spyware out of and away from your machine is not always easy, as coders get better and better each year at creating stronger and more resilient programs that can attack your computer.

Determining whether or not you have spyware is of the utmost importance, and – fortunately – can be done easily so long as you have the correct software.

It can be very difficult to determine if your machine is infected with spyware just by analyzing symptoms. In general, spyware does tend to slow down computers and inhibit performance. However, more advanced spyware is almost undetectable symptom-wise.

Generally, though, a machine that is inhabited by spyware will tend to be unresponsive and slow, and will continue to degrade over time. Since the symptoms of spyware are very similar to those of common computer viruses, the only way to truly diagnose the issue is to run tests.

Running tests for spyware is incredibly easy, and everyone should do it from time to time. While there are plenty of programs available on the market that will charge you an arm and a leg, yet there is also a host of free spyware monitoring programs that can do just as good a job for no charge whatsoever.

A quick search on Google pulls up a variety of high-rated programs that can make determining whether or not your computer is infected with spyware a breeze.

Generally, one should run spyware-detecting software at least once a week, as spyware can build up in your computer remarkably fast. Also, it can be helpful to run at least two different programs in order to cover the full spectrum, as some programs are not always able to detect 100% of the spyware on your computer.

As with virus scans, however, if you do what is needed on a regular basis, you can say goodbye to spyware forever!

If you are worried about spyware being installed on your computer then download STOPzilla and scan your PC today – the award winning anti-spyware tool.