Still Spyware Free ... (Two Months Later)

It took me weeks to understand how easily spyware can be beaten. After smashing my head against the wall day-after-day this spring, I finally stumbled upon the simple means to eradicate the spyware on my PC. The clouds parted and the sun shined. These days, my PC remains clear ... months after sharing my experience in removing spyware.

If your computer is plagued with pop ups, it's time that you take charge.

It's staggering to think how many computers are infested with nasty malware. The lion's share of this stuff is mechanically enabled by Internet Explorer. It's great that Microsoft has finally shipped a service pack, but I'm not holding my breath that XP SP2 will solve all of the problems. The simple answer is to turn off IE, and throw away the key. I'm not a lone crackpot on this one. Homeland Security put out the word back in June.

But at its rotten core, spyware isn't just a technical issue. It's a financial issue.

Spyware is financially enabled by the companies that pay for the pop-up advertisements. Some of these companies are legitimate. Others are not. When the legitimate advertisers come to understand that the negatives outweigh the positives, financial support for adware will erode.

There are good ways and bad ways to advertise on the Internet.

Adware is a bad way.