Detect Spyware

Before you get your hard drive formatted why not try some other actions that might help to resolve your problems? For some time you have noticed abnormal activities in your hard drive, activities that should not have happened under normal circumstances. You have defragged your hard drive, have run a full scan with the antivirus, yet the problem does not resolve. If this was not enough, there are lots of data packets being transmitted even when your PC is idle and you are not at the keyboard. You are computer and net savvy and know about `ping’ but that sends just 32 bits after a certain period of time to ensure your connection to your ISP’s server does not get disconnected.

But data uploading at the rate of 2MB per minute is something you are not expecting. A cursory check of the tasks running in the background chills your blood. There are some unknown tasks running in the background and most probably they are transmitting valuable data from your PC to someone else. Though you have been able to identify the executive that is causing these tasks to run, you are not able to view them, since they are marked as hidden files. Attempting to switch on the `show all files’ option frustrates you since the unknown task has disabled that too. You can be rest assured that there is a spyware in your PC but how can you detect spyware that is present in your PC?

The only way you can detect spyware present in your PC and prevent new ones from attacking the same is by using a decent and trustworthy anti-spyware program. These programs run in the background and keep on checking the data of your hard drive for any changes. If there are any changes, these programs observe whether these changes are caused by a legitimate action or not. These programs can detect spyware the moment you or someone else attempts to install it. In case you did not know, most spyware come disguised as normal programs. That adult movie clip you had downloaded might well contain a spyware.

Those who do not believe that a movie file can contain spyware need to check out the dangers of the .wmv format. The moment you had tried to view that movie, the spyware got installed in your hard drive and started its nefarious activities. Since your system did not contain any program that could detect spyware, your PC has got infected. There is no time to waste and you should install a program that can detect spyware. Just check the net and you will find many such programs, including free ones that will help to eradicate the spyware present in your PC and prevent the same from being reinfected. Once you have installed a program that can detect spyware, just update its database online and scan your PC. You will find that your problems will be fixed without formatting your hard drive and taking the risk of deleting your valuable data that has not yet been backed up.