No matter what kind you get attacked by, they are not only annoying but they can be quite costly. It doesn't take much to get this malicious applications onto your system these days as it is everywhere! Many of the URL's you enter have some form of spyware on them. It can be in the form of popups or secret downloads but for the most part there are three main ways to get spyware installed into your system. Most commonly it can be done by accidentally downloading it from the URL you are on by an Active X or Java trigger. Another way includes downloading it purposefully thinking that it is another program to later find out it had a spyware bundle hidden inside of it. Alternatively, someone you know who has access to your PC can place it manually onto your system with out you even knowing. The most common way to get bugged is by downloading spyware. It comes with most freeware which is the reason why it is free. All those fancy new cursors, screen savers, and tool bars are a great method of infection. They are also found in shareware software that transfer music and movie files from other computer. The programmer does this by installing the spyware into the middle of the original file as a bundle. This will allow you to have the program but also bring affiliate advertisement and money to the programmer for bugging your system. This may seem devious but even so the URL that offer shareware and freeware know you must agree to their privacy and license agreement before the download can take place. The problem with these agreements is that they are the very similar to the agreements of the good companies and more often than not people tend to click "I agree" before even reading the content which will include a section stating that there are risk issues when downloading items from the web. Ports or internet browsers are often unaware of the installed spyware which is able to sneak by you with out you even noticing it. They seek out open and unsecured ports as well as Active X and Java automatic downloads to attach the spyware. This type of spyware is activated by going onto a web site that has been triggered to detect Active X or Java in your web browser. If these are present then they will read the information hidden in the site and begin to download it to your PC as prompted. They will not be blocked by your firewall program because a program already installed on your system runs them. Unfortunately they will run unknowingly for quite sometime before you see a change in your PC. This means that by the time you realize they are there, it will be too late and all the information, no matter how private will be sent. This type of spyware can be in the form of adware, keyloggers, pornware, or any other type of malware. Manually installed spyware is not something you can get from surfing the web. This is not installed from remote computers or any other PC at all. Only someone who has complete access to the computer places this type of spyware onto your computer. Keyloggers are small inline devices placed in between the keyboard and system. They are so extremely small that they are very hard to detect and can be unnoticed for long periods of time. This type of device requires the person placing the device to have physical access to the system. A family member, for example, may do this to see what is being done on the computer when not supervised. They are capturing passwords, usernames, and other private information. This includes conversations via instant messenger and e-mails. The software keylogger uses a hooking device which monitors all keystrokes to retrieve the information. It uses the Window function of "SetWindowHookEx()" to carry out this action. This type of application program can be installed via corrupted files on the net or through other spyware techniques. Once downloaded into the PC they initiate the hook function and a DLL function for logging. This program can capture almost every thing one does on the PC. The third type of keylogger is the kernel/driver one. This type gets its information directly from the keyboard which replaces the main software for tracking keystrokes. It can be so cleverly programmed that it is almost completely undetectable. It is active as soon as the system begins booting and starts before any user level applications start up. However it cannot get auto complete passwords like the other types can.