Software Downloads
While Adaware and Spybot are still useful in some situations I have found the Microsoft Anti-Spyware program to be the best at finding, fixing and preventing Spyware infections. Please note, like all active protection programs they required computer power. If your computer is old and a little slow these programs will make it seem even more sluggish.
For now the Microsoft beta test of their Anti-Spyware program is free. Go to microsoft.com and look for popular downloads. While installing it make sure to accept automatic updates and run-time protection (which you can disable later if it slows you down too much).
Two other Anti-spyware programs are Adaware and Spybot which have free versions for personal use.
Adaware Anti-spyware.
Look around on this site....there is a free download.
You do not have to buy anything unless you want to.
Spybot Anti-spyware.
It seems to catch some things that Adaware does not but I usually
start with Adaware if the Microsoft product does not fix everything.
Note the disclaimer on both products. They can break your system so that some function (especially networking)
does not function at all after running the program. If this happens it was probably already operating incorrectly
and you will have no choice but to repair or reload the operating system. Use at your own risk!
Zone Alarm for personal use is a very good firewall. It works on all versions of Microsoft operating systems and does a lot more than the built-in version in XP.