What is Spyware ?
Two major groups of Spyware is Adware and Malware
The most of spyware is Adware. The main purpose of an adware program is to capture "anonymous" data for targeted advertising. Adware is usually just an annoyance, but sometimes it can cause greater difficulties.

The less common spyware programs is called Malware. Malware is a program that designed to cause problems with computer. Malware include viruses, Trojan horse programs, and certain forms of hijacking spyware. These types of spyware are written to get personal information such as email passwords, internet banking passwords, credit card numbers, and social security numbers for fraud. Many of spyware can change default program settings to allow an attacker access to the computer, or monitor a user's keystrokes to get information. The information is then sent off to the attacker via email without user knowledge or intervention.

It's hard to tell the share of computers that have been infected with spyware, estimates run as high as 95% computers could be infected. Children online can be especially vulnerable because they may have less technical savvy and frequently download using peer to peer software from the Internet.

Problems with spyware:

Several problems present themselves when a user has spyware on their system.

P0rnographic advertising:
Spyware creates targeted advertisements can be a problem. The ads will be created from information such as websites and advertisements visited previously. If children are using the same computer, this can be a problem. If the 4dult user visits a p0rnographic site, the minor could receive targeted advertisements which contain p0rnographic material. Sometimes the targeting of ads can be for p0rnographic advertisements without anyone having visited 4dult sites.

Annoyance:
Spyware can be a huge annoyance to computer users. Created Pop Up ads often appear when web pages are opened or closed. This can cause hours of wasted effort because many of the Pop Ups create more popup ads as they are closed, in an ever expanding cycle.

Computer Memory and CPU Resource:
Some spyware allows the unauthorized use of computer memory and cpu resources. This includes running programs while a PC is not busy. However, increased use of a computer memory, processor and harddisk increases the wear and tear on the components, and reduces its functional lifetime. In some cases resources are used for malicious purposes, such as mailing spam or viruses to everyone in your addressbook.

Lose control of your PC:
Spyware can change browser's homepage and other settings without the user's knowledge or permission. These changes can include turning off firewall and security protection so the spyware can communicate with external resources, making them potentially dangerous.

Simple Steps for Removing Spyware from Your Computer

Restart computer in Safe Mode (with Networking)
How to Restart Computer in Safe Mode :
Some computers have a progress bar that refers to the word BIOS. Others may not let you know what is happening. As soon as the BIOS loads, begin tapping the F8 key on your keyboard. Do so until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears. If you begin tapping the F8 key too soon, some computers display a "keyboard error" message. If this happens, restart the computer and try again. Using the arrow keys on the keyboard, select Safe mode (with Networking)
Download CWShredder and save it to your Desktop.
Download spybot - Search & Destroy and install it
Download ad-aware and install it. Make sure you click on check for updates before scanning
Download HijackThis from Here

How to Remove Spyware from your Computer
CWShredder (Freeware)
CWShredder finds and removes traces of CoolWebSearch. CoolWebSearch is a name given to a wide range of different browser hijackers. Though the code is very different between variants, they are all used to redirect users to coolwebsearch.com and other sites affiliated with its operators.
The CoolWebSearch Trojan installs dozens of links in Favourites, mostly to p0rn sites on your desktop; it also adds toolbar to Internet Explorer and changes your homepage without asking you. and it also significantly slows down the performance of your computer, and it modify some files which cause Windows to freeze, crash, random reboot etc.


Start CWShredder and you can choose "Fix"



If your computer has Trojans then you can fix it by clicking Next.
"CoolWebSearch encompasses a wide family of browser hijacker spyware programs. This spyware is frequently updated, to avoid anti-spyware software from removing it. CWShredder is widely regarded as the only solution to effectively remove CoolWebSearch spyware. " - (PC Magazine, August 2004)
Spybot - Search and Destroy (Freeware)
Spybot - Search and Destroy is an Spyware and Adware Detection and Removal Tool. It can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. This includes removal of certain advertising components, and detection of various keylogging and other spy utilities.
If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies.
In addition, it also securely removes PC and Internet usage tracks, including browser history, temporary pages, cookies (with option to keep selected) and more.



The first time SpyBot launches, you will be asked if you wish to create a backup of registry, check for updates (they regularly update the list of spyware that SpyBot detects), and immunize your system from known spyware. Say "yes" to all of these.
Now click Search & Destroy from the navigation bar and then select Check for problems.
After scanning your hard drive, SpyBot will list all Spyware, Adware, Exploits and tracking cookies that it finds. Make sure all items are selected and then click Fix selected problems.

SpyBot may not be able to remove some items that are currently running, in that case it will ask if you want to run again the next time the computer is restarted.


HijackThis (Freeware)
Hijackthis is a program that is designed for the advanced removal of malware, spyware, worms and Trojans from your system. Basically it scan the registry and other locations of your computer where spyware is commonly found. It therefore lists areas where spyware and adware could be found like items contained in the system startup, hosts file that may call up unwanted websites as well as all browser objects like Toolbars etc.

Hijackthis can help in hard to remove items of spyware and adware that spyware removal programs may not be able to detect yet. It is an advanced software and is recommended for advanced users since you have to manually remove only some items from your system because some are needed for system functionality. You can save the log file and get assistance from advanced users.

This tutorial is designed to give you an overview of how the program works. If you are unsure about something you should leave it and ask for help. Remember before using HijackThis, Scan with at least two spyware removal (Ad-aware and Spybot S&D)

R0, R1, R2, R3 - Internet Explorer Start/Search pages URLs
F0, F1 - Autoloading programs
F2, F3 - Autoloading programs mapped to the Registry
N1, N2, N3, N4 - Netscape/Mozilla Start/Search pages URLs
O1 - Hosts file redirection
O2 - Browser Helper Objects
O3 - Internet Explorer toolbars
O4 - Autoloading programs from Registry
O5 - IE Options icon not visible in Control Panel
O6 - IE Options access restricted by Administrator
O7 - Regedit access restricted by Administrator
O8 - Extra items in IE right-click menu
O9 - Extra buttons on main IE button toolbar, or in IE 'Tools' menu
O10 - Winsock hijacker
O11 - Extra group in IE 'Advanced Options' window
O12 - IE plugins
O13 - IE DefaultPrefix hijack
O14 - 'Reset Web Settings' hijack
O15 - Unwanted site in Trusted Zone
O16 - ActiveX Objects (aka Downloaded Program Files)
O17 - Lop.com domain hijackers
O18 - Extra protocols and protocol hijackers
O19 - User style sheet hijack
O20 - AppInit_DLLs Registry value autorun
O21 - ShellServiceObjectDelayLoad (SSODL) autorun Registry key
O22 - SharedTaskScheduler autorun Registry key
O23 - NT Services

Start HijackThis and Click on Do System Scan only. When the scan is complete check all the unnecessary items which should be removed, and Click on the Fix checked button. A confirmation box will appear. Click Yes. HijackThis will now remove the checked items.

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It is difficult to identify any one device as the earliest computer, partly because the term "computer" has been subject to varying interpretations over time. Originally, the term "computer" referred to a person who performed numerical calculations (a human computer), often with the aid of a mechanical calculating device.

The history of the modern computer begins with two separate technologies - that of automated calculation and that of programmability.

Examples of early mechanical calculating devices included the abacus, the slide rule and arguably the astrolabe and the Antikythera mechanism (which dates from about 150-100 BC). The end of the Middle Ages saw a re-invigoration of European mathematics and engineering, and Wilhelm Schickard's 1623 device was the first of a number of mechanical calculators constructed by European engineers. However, none of those devices fit the modern definition of a computer because they could not be programmed.

Hero of Alexandria (c. 10 – 70 AD) built a mechanical theater which performed a play lasting 10 minutes and was operated by a complex system of ropes and drums that might be considered to be a means of deciding which parts of the mechanism performed which actions - and when.[3] This is the essence of programmability. In 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard made an improvement to the textile loom that used a series of punched paper cards as a template to allow his loom to weave intricate patterns automatically. The resulting Jacquard loom was an important step in the development of computers because the use of punched cards to define woven patterns can be viewed as an early, albeit limited, form of programmability.

It was the fusion of automatic calculation with programmability that produced the first recognisable computers. In 1837, Charles Babbage was the first to conceptualize and design a fully programmable mechanical computer that he called "The Analytical Engine".[4] Due to limited finances, and an inability to resist tinkering with the design, Babbage never actually built his Analytical Engine.

Large-scale automated data processing of punched cards was performed for the U.S. Census in 1890 by tabulating machines designed by Herman Hollerith and manufactured by the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation, which later became IBM. By the end of the 19th century a number of technologies that would later prove useful in the realization of practical computers had begun to appear: the punched card, Boolean algebra, the vacuum tube (thermionic valve) and the teleprinter.

During the first half of the 20th century, many scientific computing needs were met by increasingly sophisticated analog computers, which used a direct mechanical or electrical model of the problem as a basis for computation. However, these were not programmable and generally lacked the versatility and accuracy of modern digital computers.

A succession of steadily more powerful and flexible computing devices were constructed in the 1930s and 1940s, gradually adding the key features that are seen in modern computers. The use of digital electronics (largely invented by Claude Shannon in 1937) and more flexible programmability were vitally important steps, but defining one point along this road as "the first digital electronic computer" is difficult (Shannon 1940). Notable achievements include:

EDSAC was one of the first computers to implement the stored program (von Neumann) architecture.
Konrad Zuse's electromechanical "Z machines". The Z3 (1941) was the first working machine featuring binary arithmetic, including floating point arithmetic and a measure of programmability. In 1998 the Z3 was proved to be Turing complete, therefore being the world's first operational computer.

The non-programmable Atanasoff–Berry Computer (1941) which used vacuum tube based computation, binary numbers, and regenerative capacitor memory.
The secret British Colossus computer (1944), which had limited programmability but demonstrated that a device using thousands of tubes could be reasonably reliable and electronically reprogrammable. It was used for breaking German wartime codes.
The Harvard Mark I (1944), a large-scale electromechanical computer with limited programmability.

The U.S. Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory ENIAC (1946), which used decimal arithmetic and is sometimes called the first general purpose electronic computer (since Konrad Zuse's Z3 of 1941 used electromagnets instead of electronics). Initially, however, ENIAC had an inflexible architecture which essentially required rewiring to change its programming.

Several developers of ENIAC, recognizing its flaws, came up with a far more flexible and elegant design, which came to be known as the stored program architecture or von Neumann architecture. This design was first formally described by John von Neumann in the paper "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC", published in 1945. A number of projects to develop computers based on the stored program architecture commenced around this time, the first of these being completed in Great Britain. The first to be demonstrated working was the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM) or "Baby". However, the EDSAC, completed a year after SSEM, was perhaps the first practical implementation of the stored program design. Shortly thereafter, the machine originally described by von Neumann's paper—EDVAC—was completed but did not see full-time use for an additional two years.

Nearly all modern computers implement some form of the stored program architecture, making it the single trait by which the word "computer" is now defined. By this standard, many earlier devices would no longer be called computers by today's definition, but are usually referred to as such in their historical context. While the technologies used in computers have changed dramatically since the first electronic, general-purpose computers of the 1940s, most still use the von Neumann architecture. The design made the universal computer a practical reality.

Microprocessors are miniaturized devices that often implement stored program CPUs.
Vacuum tube-based computers were in use throughout the 1950s, but were largely replaced in the 1960s by transistor-based devices, which were smaller, faster, cheaper, used less power and were more reliable. These factors allowed computers to be produced on an unprecedented commercial scale. By the 1970s, the adoption of integrated circuit technology and the subsequent creation of microprocessors such as the Intel 4004 caused another leap in size, speed, cost and reliability. By the 1980s, computers had become sufficiently small and cheap to replace simple mechanical controls in domestic appliances such as washing machines. Around the same time, computers became widely accessible for personal use by individuals in the form of home computers and the now ubiquitous personal computer. In conjunction with the widespread growth of the Internet since the 1990s, personal computers are becoming as common as the television and the telephone and almost all modern electronic devices contain a computer of some kind.

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Last time, I am have problem printer computer at our company. You cannot add a printer, and you receive printer spooler error messages. If you same problem, any solution to resolve this problem with registry editor from support microsoft To do this, follow these steps:

RESOLUTION
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista
To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. If you do not have a Lexmark printer installed, go to step 4. If you do have a Lexmark printer installed, go to step 2.
2. If the Lexmark print service is installed on your computer, turn off the LexBce Server service. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
b. Expand Services and Applications, and then click Services.
c. In the details pane, right-click LexBce Server, and then click Properties.
d. On the General tab, in the Startup type list, click Disabled.
e. Under Service status, click Stop, and then click OK.
f. Right-click the Print Spooler service, and then click Start (if it is stopped).
g. Exit Computer Management.

3. Test whether the issue is resolved. If the issue is resolved, you do not have to follow the remaining steps. If the issue is not resolved, go to step 4, and then follow the remaining steps.

4. Start the computer in safe mode. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Restart your computer and start pressing the F8 key on your keyboard. On a computer that is configured to start multiple operating systems, you can press the F8 key when the Boot menu appears.
b. Select an option when the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, and then press ENTER.
c. When the Boot menu appears again, and the words "Safe Mode" appear in blue at the bottom, select the installation that you want to start, and then press ENTER. Note For more information about how to start your computer in safe mode, click Start, click Help and Support, type safe mode in the Search box, press the ENTER key, and then click the Start Windows in safe mode topic.

5.Start Microsoft Windows Explorer, and then delete all the files and the folders in the following two folders (where C: is the drive where you have Windows XP installed):
•C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers
•C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Drivers\w32x86

6.Start Registry Editor. To do this, click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.

7.Locate and expand the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86 View the list of subkeys. There should only be the following subkeys:
•Drivers
•Print Processors

8.If there are any subkeys other than the subkeys that are listed in step 6, follow these steps:
a. On the File menu, click Export.
b. In the File Name box, type the name that you want to use for this key, such as WindowsNTx86regkey, and then click Save.You can use this backup of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86 registry key to restore the key if you experience any issues after you complete this procedure.
c. Delete all the subkeys other than the subkeys that are listed in step 6. To do this, right-click each subkey that is not on the list, and then click Delete. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the deletion.

9.Locate and then expand the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86\Drivers
The registry entries for the printer drivers that are installed on the computer are stored in the Version-x subkey or subkeys, where x is a number (typically 2 or 3).

10.Export the Version-x subkey or subkeys. To do this, follow these steps:
a. On the File menu, click Export.
b. In the File Name box, type the name that you want to use for this key, such as print driver, and then click Save.

11.Expand the Version-x subkey or subkeys, and then delete the printer driver entries. To do this, right-click each printer driver subkey, and then click Delete. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the deletion.

12.Locate and then expand the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors
View the list of subkeys. There should only be the following subkeys for the default print monitors:
•BJ Language Monitor
•Local Port
•PJL Language Monitor
•Standard TCP/IP Port
•USB Monitor

13.If there are any subkeys other than the subkeys that are listed in step 12, follow these steps:
a. On the File menu, click Export.
b. In the File Name box, type the

name that you want to use for this key, such as MonitorsRegkey, and then click Save. You can use this backup of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors registry key to restore the key if you experience any issues after you complete this procedure.
c. Delete all the subkeys other than the subkeys that are listed in step 10. To do this, right-click each subkey that is not on the list, and then click Delete. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the deletion.

14.If you have a printer attached, disconnect the printer cable from the computer, and then restart the computer.
15.Verify that the Print Spooler service is running. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
b. Expand Services and Applications, and then click Services.
c. In the details pane, right-click the Print Spooler service, and then click Start (if it is stopped).
d. Exit Computer Management.

Note If you cannot start the Print Spooler service, follow the steps in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article to start the Print Spooler service:
919750 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919750/) You experience problems printing, viewing printer icons, and adding printers, the Print Spooler service does not function correctly, and you receive print-related error messages on a Windows XP-based computer
16.If you have a printer attached, reconnect the printer cable to the computer, add the printer that you want, and then try to print a test page. To add your printer, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
b. Click Add a printer.The Add Printer Wizard starts.
c. Follow the instructions in the Add Printer Wizard to install the printer that you want.

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