Surprisingly, though the term spyware has become popular, most people have little or no idea at all of what it does and what it can do. Spyware programs can either be just the malicious types or the criminal ones. Malicious-type spyware gathers information about your internet browsing history when you log online. This then sends the information gathered to its maker who then sells it to advertising or marketing firms. This type of spyware is the root cause of probably all the annoying pop-ups you see in your screen whenever you enter a website or open your internet browser. Harmless as they may seem, these types of spyware programs actually cause your computer's performance to degrade. As with any other programs, spyware programs use your computer's resources without your consent and knowledge. A large number of these programs may, at the very least, cause your computer to become more sluggish or worse to crash.

The second type of spyware is utilized for criminal activities. This type of spyware collects personal information about you like your passwords or credit card accounts. They do this by monitoring your keystrokes every time you enter your personal information when ordering something online or subscribing to a service. Damages that this type of spyware can cause may range from just frustrating to life threatening with some people losing a lot of money as spyware makers transfer all their savings to another account.

Because of these, a lot of people are taking precautions against spyware whenever they use a computer. Most people use some type of free spyware removal programs that can either detect spyware as they integrate into the system or scan the hard drive for any spyware that are already there. Some people also have switched to another internet browser or operating system as the occurrences of spyware decreases along with the popularity of the software or operating system used in the computer. Another way to detect spyware is to check the running system processes in the computer and check which ones are legitimate by cross referencing this with sources online. Processes that should not be running or present at all are killed and deleted from the system. As almost eight out of 10 computers are infected with spyware programs, it is always best to assume your computer has them and to take precautions to eliminate these threats.