The three free tools I recommended using in the story are Spybot, Ad Aware and Winpatrol.  Due to licensing agreements, I can not legally make these programs available to you right here, but I can give you links to their websites for you to download...

Spybot Search and Destroy is free software for spyware scanning and removal. Although it was featured on the news, the program does not seem to be connecting properly  to the update servers after installation. More info - I'd recommend skipping that one today!

Ad Aware is another excellent free spyware scanning and removal program, and they also have a paid option. Neither AdAware or Spybot alone will clean up 100% of your problems, but usually, using the two one right after the other will leave you near perfect again.

Ad Aware can be downloaded here

Some people don't like to trust anything that's free, and often that's with good reason. PC World Magazine has awarded their June 2005 Best Buy award to Sunbelt Software's Counterspy, rating it the best of all the available Spyware products in the US. In August 2005, they ran another test, but did not have the latest version of Counterspy to test. I highly recommend it.

Winpatrol is the Windows Watchdog program that will do a great job of identifying, removing, and even preventing future unwanted startup programs and spyware.  Often, this program alone can clean up a systems problems, (although there's no substitute for a full virus and spyware scan).

In my opinion, Winpatrol, or another "monitoring program" just like it, the key to keeping your computer running well. My kids know to say 'no' to the watchdog any time it barks, unless they are 100% sure that WANT the described action to happen. A monitoring program monitors your system for any changes, and Winpatrol os one of the most "user friendly".

Although Winpatrol is free, they have a "Plus" version available too. I choose to spend the one time $20 fee, because they are constantly improving, and I support companies I believe in.

The latest version of Winpatrol is available here, and I should mention that I learned about Winpatrol from Steve Shank, another local consultant that owns Oregon Computer Solutions. His website has a couple of tutorial articles regarding Winpatrol, along with several dozen more articles and tips.

To learn more about this subject, please read this short article on Spyware, where I explain more about what it is, what it does, where it comes from, and how to get rid of it.

I also have a full library of computer and internet related articles I've written for home users and business owners, and if you have the time, feel free to drop me a comment on my blog.