Spyware

I just spent precious hours waging a battle with a computer worm/spyware/virus/trojan horse which installed itself on my PC.

Upon opening up my PC, I found 2 new desktop icons I have never seen before. In addition, an annoying Security Alert keeps popping up for AntiVirGear which promotes itself as anti-spyware but which is actually a worm. It would only gradually destroy my PC's operating system. Clearly, this was a system security threat.

I have always used Internet Explorer as my browser, despite a history of being the conduit of attacking my PC.

My computer kept crashing and my IE won't work anymore. It's a good thing I had Firefox which is better protected than IE, which thankfully allowed me, despite repeated system crashes--very frustrating, I spent the whole morning rebooting-- to go to www.dowload.com (I have always relied on this excellent site for software and anti-virus programs) because I felt my free AVG didn't give me enough protection.

I also consulted on-line forums and got very good suggestions about which free anti-spyware to download to address this specific pseudo-anti virus that is wreaking havoc on my PC.

I settled on Kaspersky, although you have to buy it, it has a 30-day trial period which I took advantage of. I must say I am impressed. Grisoft's AVG and Lava Soft were unable to remove and neutralize AntiVirGear, only Kapernsky.

I feel exhausted. I know next to nothing about computers. But since I am my own IT department, I really had no choice.

I'm not using Internet Explorer anymore.