Did you consider that the culprit might have been that free software program you downloaded many months ago? Well the fact is that more and more so called free programs available on the internet, contain trojan virus' of various shapes and sizes. These are small files dropped onto your computer during the installation of 'that' free program, which seems to work so well and you like so much. A trojan virus often doesn't activate straight away. It is programmed to wait until a particular time, sometimes lying dormant for many months before activation. In this way it covers it's tracks as to where you got it from. The virus then works its magic, altering your files, messing with your registry settings, and generally creating havoc on your system, so that eventually your computer gets slower and slower, keeps freezing, and finally gives up. And during this process that little virus has sent all your passwords, bank details and any other private information you had on your computer back to its originator. In simple terms its theft, but there's often not much you can do about it.

Another pain are those programs which are added during installation, such as toolbars, search helpers and the like. The big boys like Yahoo and Google are just as brazen in giving you these annoying freebies as many smaller internet companies. They cover themselves by giving you the option to uncheck a box if you don't want their other little special things. How many times have you overlooked that little check box and now are locked into searching with Yahoo et al. Other nastier little surprises in free programs are the ones that hijack your internet browser, so that every time you come across a page that's not available, it springs into life giving all sorts of unwanted options. Or it replaces every fourth or fifth page of browsing with its oh so helpful information.

Many free programs also come bundled with spyware which looks all through your computer and sends sensitive information back to its master. Some can become so annoying and almost impossible to remove, that the only option is a complete wipe of your hard drive and to re-install Windows. Sound familiar? Isn't it better to purchase a program or website membership and be sure of a program's cleanliness, as the author is getting properly rewarded for his work by your payment and doesn't need to resort to these vulgar tactics.