News Spyware Protection and Removal at PCStats

PCStats continues with it's "Beginner's Guide" series, this time focusing on the evil that is spyware:

"Fresh from penning our Firewall and Virus Alert article, PCStats would like to present the second part of our beginners guide to the less savoury aspects of the internet experience; dealing with the subject of "Spyware." If you've installed a peer-to-peer sharing program such as 'Kazaa Media Desktop' or 'Morpheus', or accidentally said yes to a 'Gator' pop-up, or gone on an excursion to some of the darker corners of the Internet, chances are your PC has developed an internet life of its own through one or more spyware applications. While the actual definition of what constitutes Spyware is somewhat vague, there are a few distinguishing points that are generally agreed on. The most common definition of Spyware is a program that sends information from your computer to another destination on the Internet without your knowledge and without your explicit consent. The information can potentially include just about anything stored on, or accessible by your computer. In reality, most spyware programs limit themselves to sending specific types of demographic information, such as the URLs you visit on the Internet, IP and email addresses, or even something as mundane as a cookie. The potential of these kinds of programs is rather frightening though."

More here. Worth a look if you're a beginner or grizzled veteran.