Some of these are installed during visits to particular websites, perhaps as something 'required' to view content on a site. The more pervasive spyware threat comes in the form of web plug-ins and hidden applications.

Additionally, you can manually delete individual cookies stored on your computer. You can also pick and choose which cookies to accept or reject. You can agree to the deposit of cookies or not via your web browser's preferences settings. If they keep an extensive record of your visit and surfing habits, then they'll have a great deal of unique, private information about you all linked to that cookie. The cookie that is deposited is a small text file that has enough information for their remote servers to know it is you visiting again. Creating this account deposits a cookie in your web browser so that on return visits to that site, the site knows it is you, sparing you the need to reenter your username/password. Visitors of the New York Times website, for example, can read articles by having a free account. Some are relatively benign, merely providing information to outside users so that your web-browsing experience is customized to meet your unique needs. Whereas it used to be accidentally deleted files or virus infections that occupied much of my service time, now I'm mostly removing spyware or wiping and restoring machines because the intrusion of this malware is too great to allow for recovery of the system. As the technology support person for DO-IT, I've been called upon to repair and restore Scholar machines each year.

Spyware removal