If spyware finds its way into your system it will not only cause privacy concerns, but will cause some technical headaches. Some spyware can be very hard to remove. They can edit and remove Windows Registry values, change Windows system files and change the way antivirus and spyware removal tools behave. And because all spyware is different, there is no one "clean fix" to remove all spyware from a system. There are many different programs available to clean certain types of spyware from your computer.

So how do you find out what kind of spyware you might have? First of all you need to recognise the symptoms. Is your browser's homepage getting redirected, are you having a problem with popups or do you have a search bar that you didn't ask for? Chances are, you have a browser hijacker. You will need to find which one, however. Does the toolbar have a name in it? Do you get redirected to a certain website? If you do a search for any of that information you should be able to find out what type of spyware you have.

A good place to start is PCHell's Spyware Removal page. This page contains information and removal processes for many different types of spyware and information on different spyware removal programs. For example, if you have a toolbar in your Internet Explorer called "SmartSearch", you can find an explanation of what it is and how it works, and removal instructions on the PCHell website.

For more information, visit http://www.pchell.com.