As its sinister name implies, "spyware" poses a significant threat to your computer and an even greater threat to your privacy.
Spyware designers program their viral implants to transmit information about your internet habits to a website identified in their software.
In its most benign applications, a spyware monitor your shopping habits and sends you spam that seems to correspond with your interests.
Like its relative "adware," spyware typically enters your computer on the back of a free download, evading detection by standard virus scanners.
Spyware perverts otherwise useful programs for malicious purposes.
Ironically, if you have installed a program to monitor your system's security, spyware adapts the monitoring function to watch every move you make.
Originally conceived as an ingenious marketing tool, "innocent" spyware kept an eye on your preferences for the sake of saving your browsing time and guiding you to relevant sites.
Turned to criminal purposes, spyware steals not only your passwords and user preferences but also your financial and credit data, enabling identity theft and fraud.
How spyware affects your file registry Think of your file registry as your computer's memory and central nervous system.
It contains all the data that empowers your central processing unit (CPU) to perform the operations and drive the applications you wish.
As you first activate your operating system, it saves and assigns priority to your preferences, making your registry unique to you and nimble at doing what you command.
As you add both software and hardware to your system, they add information to your registry, keeping it in synch with your needs.
When, however, you uninstall programs, the file registry remains intact.
Over time, as you download new applications and transfer data, your file registry becomes cluttered with obsolete, damaged, and fragmented files which slow your machine and have potential to freeze it.
Adware and spyware creep into your file registry with other system updates, and their designers make sure they can slip through standard virus scans.
Although you regularly should scan and clean your file registry and optimize its performance, you never should perform the operations manually.
Not even experienced, highly-trained IT technicians venture into a file registry for manual operations.
Safely effectively scan and tune your registry with reliable anti-spyware programs and a reputable registry cleaner.
Most Windows operating systems contain built-in cleaners that work extremely well.
Your registry requires monthly maintenance.
Your file registry inevitably gets cluttered.
Just as your human memory contains thousands of little factoids and "cortical islands," so the registry preserves bits and snatches of data it once required but now barely recognizes.
If you go too long without cleaning, organizing, and optimizing your file registry, it will, in effect, become "confused.
" Even your system's most fundamental operations will slow to a crawl, and you probably will observe problems with your start-up menus.
The experts advise, if your operating system did not include a reliable registry cleaner, you should install one.
And you should use it at least once each month as you perform other routine system maintenance.