It used to be that as long as you had a good antivirus programme installed on your computer, that you computer would be fairly safe from attack.

Now, it has become as important to ensure that your computer is free of 'Spyware'. Spyware comes in a variety of shapes and sizes - the worst ones being 'keyloggers' which can watch your keyboard keystrokes passing important information (like banking passwords) off to 3rd party websites.

We use and recommend the free versions of these tools.

• Spybot - Search & Destroy
• Ad-Aware
• Windows Defender (from Microsoft)

Click on the links above to be taken to these websites for more instructions on how to download and install.

Another excellent programme is Counterspy from Sunbelt Software. Counterspy offers a full working version of their programme for 15 days trial - which is an excellent way to clean up your computer, and then if you wish to continue to use Counterspy to monitor your computer, you can buy the full version. Also works on Windows 98SE.

• Counterspy

Like Antivrius software ad removers are only as good as the last time you updated it from the net - as new spyware is being released every day, having a spyware remover scan your computer if it hasn't been updated for quite a while is fairly pointless. Update first, then scan.

Generally we refrain from installing any software on our own computers unless we know that it comes from a reputable source. Especially avoid installing extra search bar tools, and downloading helpers. Do not click on links which offer to 'clean your computer' from spyware, as often these are bogus sites which will do the opposite of what they claim.