There are many signs that our computer has been hit with an unwanted program, but we usually ignore them because we don't understand what they mean. If web pages take longer and longer to open, we can pass that off as our Internet connection, or the web site itself. A program that used to start right up is taking longer to open, and we assume that it is just our perception. A strange message appears on the screen indicating that our PC is broadcasting it's Internet address, and we guess it is just an advertisement from a web site.

All of these things can be explained away, but they can also point to programs that are running on our computer without our knowledge. Rather than waiting for these things to become a major problem, it is a good idea to do some regular maintenance and eliminate these problems as they crop up. This maintenance / prevention requires multiple tools, since one tool alone will not keep all of the nasties away.

The most common 'problem' programs are those that gather information about our surfing habits and send it off to a central server so that we can get 'targeted advertising' delivered right to our desktop. These programs use up system resources and slow things down, and if we are on a dial-up connection they can almost cripple that. These are the Spyware Programs.

Security holes in the Operating System are a big risk these days, and Microsoft has a site designed to scan for the latest Windows updates and install them on our computers. Although this is a fairly quick and painless process, many of us do not keep up with this. Windows XP is set up to look for these updates automatically, so keeping current is not that hard, and it is a 'must do' part of our security.

Viruses and Worms are programs that usually try to do some kind of damage - if not to our computer, then to other computers using ours as a launching point. Antivirus software will help keep these programs off our computers, but they need to be updated regularly to keep the latest-and-greatest threats at bay.