Spyware refers to a broad category of malicious software intended to take partial control of a computer. It monitors the websites and types of e- mails you receive and displays pop ups based on the content that you were previously reading, hence the name spyware.

Malware -- software that, among other things, spies on computer users and plagues them with constant barrages of popups -- is a growing concern in the internet community, and Google is stepping in to help protect consumers by warning them if they are about to visit a site with a reputation for the harmful programs.

The search engine giant has teamed with Lenovo, Sun and the Stop Badware coalition to provide the warnings to anyone who visits a site deemed as harmful by the watchdog organization. The initial warnings will be generic, but Stop Badware said it would begin providing specific warnings as harmful sites are analyzed. The warning will suggest people try a different site, but will not actually prevent them from continuing.

According to a May research report -- partly sponsored by McAfee's SiteAdvisor, which also warns of potentially harmful sites -- the average search term results will be comprised of 4 to 6 percent harmful sites. Certain search terms returned an even higher percentage; "free screensavers" for example returned 64 percent harmful sites in its result.

Dangerous keywords found by the report include:

?Free screensavers

?Bearshare

?Screensavers

?Winmx

?Limewire or Lime wire

?Download Yahoo messenger

?Free ringtones

"Most dodgy websites that have spyware or are infected with viruses come through search," said ScansSafe Chief Executive Eldar Tuvey. "Because they are the ones that people do not know as well and find through searching."

Today, computers are vulnerable to spyware and adware, especially since different types are created everyday. Spyware and adware are the reasons for pop-ups, computer crashes, delay in response time, and your computer just being slow! Most of the time, these annoying programs get installed on your computer without you knowing.

Obviously you know of the traps that lie out there on the Internet that can be potentially dangerous to you, your computer and your personal information.

It's a hard spot to be in when trying to decide on protection for your computer because there are just so many options out there.

Some are extremely expensive and some are so complicated to use that no average person would be able to use them properly.

Even worse, there are protection options out there that just flat out don't work properly.

Not to say these don't work but many cheap alternatives just don't do a proper scan. But there is a tool that's free and produced by the biggest technology company in the world.

It's called the Malicious Software Removal Tool and is available directly from Microsoft's website here:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.msp

While this is just a start and by no means a complete solution to finding the dirty stuff on your computer, it is a great start.