95% of home computers are infected with spyware, is your computer one of them?

If you are getting a ridiculous amount of popups, often along with system slowdown, that is usually a symptom of a spyware infection within your computer. Spyware is the name for programs which install themselves without your knowledge or consent and run in "stealth mode" so as to avoid detection. They often disguise themselves as Search Assistants, Browser Toolbars, or some Web Rebates/Bargain Buddy type of "helpful" software when in reality what they are doing is keeping track of your web browsing habits and sending that data back to advertisers and also generating annoying pop-up ads which can appear even when you are not connected to the Internet. Spyware infections can also change the default home page to which your browser goes when it is first opened.

If you haven't taken Spyware seriously, you should reconsider. Just take a look at the following list of what Spyware is capable of.

• Monitoring your personal info (Chat Logs, Passwords, Emails, SSN)
• Dramatically slowing down your computer, until it crashes
• Flooding you with aggressive pop-ups and commercials
• Hiding on your PC un-revealed by Anti-Virus or Firewall programs
• Sometimes even resulting in Credit Card Fraud or Identity Theft!

Removing spyware can be difficult, as these things are deliberately made to entrench themselves as firmly as possibly and were not programmed to easily give up their hold on your computer. We normally recommend bringing the computer and your original Windows CD or restore CD to our office and having our technicians scan and clean the spyware. Once the spyware has been removed, we will also install some scan utilities which you can run to make sure the system remains clean. In some cases a severe spyware infestation will require the computer to be formatted, though we will not do so without checking with you first so that your data may be backed up before the system is formatted. The in-office spyware removal is priced at $50.00 per hour and usually varies from 1 - 2 hours, depending on the severity of the infection. We can also direct you to some downloadable tools if you would like to try the cleanup yourself, though we do honestly recommend that spyware cleanup be done by a technician experienced with this sort of issue.

If you are sure that the popups you are receiving are not caused by spyware, DandyNet does provide a pop-up blocker proxy server , though if spyware is present in the system, masking the symptoms with a pop up blocker will ultimately only make the spyware infestation worse.

Please give us a call at 800-636-1188 if you have any questions or would like to schedule a time to have your machine scanned and cleaned of spyware. Our customer service and technical support hours are 9:00 am to 10:00 pm, Monday through Saturday, and we will be happy to help you.

Thank you for choosing DandyNet.