The FireFox Solution

Spyware is the #1 enemy in the IT Department. What remains to be seen is whether these efforts can keep users from migrating to Mozilla's Firefox. Part of the attraction of the open-source browser is its reputation as being significantly more spyware-proof than Internet Explorer. Corporations have been slower than individuals to change browsers, citing compatibility concerns, but many IT departments are taking a close look at Firefox.

"We have been evaluating Firefox as a more secure browser to help prevent all malware infections," said Higgins of Saturn Electronics. "Currently, it runs about 90 percent of our intranet applications."

"Internet Explorer is an inherently vulnerable browser, partly because it has such a high user base and also due to poor coding by Microsoft," said Hughes. "Here at Marist, we recommend that users use (it) only for Internet Explorer-specific tasks, such as Windows Update, and use Mozilla Firefox for all other browsing."

With spyware attacks now coming from even the most innocuous-seeming software, enterprises may decide to follow suit. Security researchers at Panda Software recently discovered a pair of Trojans -- programs that let outsiders make changes to a user's PC, including loading other spyware -- that leverage DRM (digital rights management) technology built into Windows Media Player. When a user attempts to download a license requested by WMP, the Trojans redirect the browser to a Web site that attacks the user's system with a barrage of spyware.

Two great anti-spyware removal tools are
spybot
Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove adware files from your computer, ensuring complete elimination from your system.

Ad-aware
Ad-aware has the ability to scan your RAM, registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data-mining, advertising, and tracking components, Ad-aware SE easily can clean your system.

I recommend running both if you're going to continue to use Microsoft's IE.... I would remove up to 70 traces with ad-aware and up to 20 traces with spybot, every other day. Since switching to firefox I still run both programs every other day to scan my system. The end result, 1 trace found with spybot, less than 5 traces with ad-aware with the firefox browser.