My kids who play games on the net and don't really understand that they should not click some things end up being infected with spyware 2-3 times a week and this is with me having 3 applications protecting the machine. At times it gets so bad I just restore the machine. I have become a Norton Ghost expert because of my kids.

But adults are vulnerable also and on average my machine picks up one spyware program a week. I test a lot of software and I visit a significant number of sites and I am sure most of the things I pick up are from software packages. I have been using NAV and Spy Sweeper but after reading Wired's story today I think I am going to give Spybot a run and see how it does.

For a long time I had a link to a site that kept track of what programs out there has spyware built into the programs but it is buried someplace in my 1000's of Favorites. Anyway if your not using Anti Virus software and some sort of Active Spyware program your asking for trouble. Great article by [Wired]