To fully understand the term of free spyware removal, we have to understand what is a spyware and why we should need it to be removed
In short, spyware is a program that allows other people to access our computer via internet. Free spyware removal, on the other hand, is the most common way of getting rid of it. It may take control over our machine, but it can also help gather marketing informations, for example by monitoring our auctions on eBay, or even read our credit card number and send it to someone who will then gain access to our bank account.
A piece of history
The term “spyware” was first used on October 17, 1994 in a satirical Usenet post that was pointed at Microsoft's business model. It became a definition of espionage equipment such as miniature cameras. The word as we understand it today was first used by the founder of Zone Labs, Gregor Freund during a press release of his product at early 2000. Free spyware removal websites were introduced shortly after that. In early 2000, Steve Gibson of Gibson Research realized that advertising software had been installed on his system and he suspected that the software was stealing his personal information. After analyzing the software he determined that they were hidden adware components. As a result of his analysis, in 2000, Gibson released the first anti-spyware program, OptOut, and many more software-based antidotes have appeared since then, though they weren't for free. Spyware removal freeware showed up much later.
Spyware removal programs
Many programmers and some commercial firms have released several spyware removal products. Steve Gibson's OptOut pioneered a growing category, but programs such as Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE and Patrick Kolla's Spybot - Search & Destroy gained popularity as effective tools to remove spyware programs. Especially Spybot, possibly the best free spyware removal program ever designed, is worth your attention. Other well-known anti-spyware products include Webroot Spy Sweeper, PC Tools' Spyware Doctor, ParetoLogic's XoftSpy, and Sunbelt's CounterSpy. Also many anti-virus firms such as Symantec, McAfee and Sophos have come later to the table, adding anti-spyware features to their existing anti-virus products. Early on, anti-virus firms expressed reluctance to add anti-spyware functions, citing lawsuits brought by spyware authors against the authors of web sites and programs which described their products as "spyware". However, recent versions of these major firms' home and business anti-virus products do include anti-spyware functions, albeit treated differently from viruses. Many of those products (mostly anti-virus programs) must be bought, but many producers offers free spyware removal.
Removing spyware
However, not all products featuring free spyware removal are ideal. There are two ways of defeating spyware programs – preventing them installation and removing existing ones. The main difference between those two methods is that if we remove spyware while running a program, we have to do it frequently, otherwise the security of our informations may be easily compromised. Programs that prevents spyware from installing are running constantly on our computers making the threat minimal. The problem is, that most softwares allowing free spyware removal only gives us the first, imperfect method.
