Spyware Who is Watching you?
With the introduction of "always on" higher speed Internet service our private matters have become more public. Many of the "free software" programs you downloaded in the first flush of a faster service may be deleterious spyware passing loads of personal/private information to unscrupulous market researchers and spammers. The result: you are inundated with hundreds of emails selling everything from illegal software to pornography.How do you "seek and destroy" these "Detrimental Dementors". First and foremost: regularly empty your browser caches (go to tools, then Internet options, and in the general section delete files, delete cookies), next go to Windows directory then to "cookies" and delete them.
If you wish to be more diligent there are several sites which can provide tools; some, cost money others are free.
Read about spyware and the more notorious companies at www.scumware.com, then go to http://cexx.org/apps.htm to select software to counteract the ads. Proxomitron appears to be the most efficient at "sniffing out" spyware and costs nothing.