It is yet another in what is becoming a long and distinguished line of rogue antispyware programs, and it is equally if not more troublesome than its counterparts. Spyware Guard 2008 is infecting computers at an alarming rate worldwide, and if you’ve already fallen prey to the fake warning messages, you need to act quickly if you want to save your computer from being rendered practically useless from countless spyware and malware infections as a result of this rogue program.

First let’s take a look at what Spyware Guard 2008 will do to your computer if you do not take definitive action to remove it.

Spyware Guard 2008, just like almost all of its counterparts, finds its way onto your computer with your help. You probably found yourself chugging away at your computer one day only to see what appears to be a valid warning message popup or advertisement stating that you are infected and you need to download and install Spyware Guard 2008 in order to fix the problem - however the problem is that Spyware Guard it not what it seems.

What happens after you download and install the program is that it will perform a full system scan and report back what appears to be a significant number of infections. The catch here is that none of these so-called infections that the program reports back to you are real infections. In fact, the program never actually scans your computer - it just makes you think it is. All of this is devised to scam you into purchasing the full version of the software, and if you do you are in for a boatload of spyware trouble.

At this point, Spyware Guard 2008 will continue to download more and more spyware and adware onto your machine without you having any clue and eventually your computer will become so bogged down with spyware and adware that it becomes practically useless.

Another big problem with Spyware Guard 2008 is that it follows the same procedure as most of the more well known spyware removers - it will let you scan your computer (or what appears to be a scan in this case) and then if it finds infections it prompts you to purchase the full version in order to remove those infections. This is exactly what happens with legitimate programs so you are lead to believe that this is OK to do.

That being said, the irony of all this is that the only legitimate way that you are going to fully remove Spyware Guard 2008 is to get your hands on top of the line spyware removal software. Programs like Spybot’s Search and Destroy or Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware will not do the trick either.

You need a robust, fully supported and fully capable spyware remover that is also equipped with a state of the art real-time protection agent so that you can not only remove Spyware Guard 2008 before it’s too late, but so that you’ll also be protected from future spyware infections before they even have a chance to get to your computer.

It is inevitable - the errors, freezes, crashes, and general slowness that plagues all computer users at some point or another. A large majority of these issues are caused by corrupt registry entries. Luckily, however, you can perform registry repair rather easily and in a matter of minutes using the right registry cleaner software.

Most computer users have fallen victim to one or more of the above issues at some point, but rarely is there an easy fix. Instead, most of the time you spend hours browsing computer forums and try all sorts of things to get your computer to work like it should again and in the end, you are only left frustrated and desperate.

Your computer’s registry is like your brain. It houses information about everything and anything that has to do with how your computer runs. It contains such things as hardware and driver information, application and program installation locations, software settings and configuration, and a whole host of other things. Without a registry that is void of corruption and errors, your computer has no chance of running well at all.

What happens over time, however, is that due to the installation of new programs combined with the removal and deletion of old programs and files, as well as due to updates and upgrades - your computer’s registry will become corrupt.

It will contain entries that are no longer needed or are incorrect. Because of this, your computer becomes confused. This can lead to something as simple as it slowing down because it takes extra time to sift through all those corrupt registry entries to find what it really needs or it can lead to errors and crashes because it tries to execute invalid code or an invalid file to do something it read from the registry. The only way to get your computer running smoothly again is to perform registry repair.

Now unless you are a trained computer technician (and even if you are in many cases), manual repair of your computer’s registry is not recommended at all as you could end up doing far worse damage to your computer and can basically cause it to become useless.

Fortunately, there is another way and that is through the use of registry cleaner software.

A top of the line registry cleaner will not only scan your registry for errors and corruption and fix it, but it will also optimize and compact your computer’s registry so that related files and information is written in a logical and efficient manner making it much easier for your operating system and application to find the information it needs to execute whatever task it is performing - and it can do all of this literally within minutes.

So stop wondering how you are going to fix all your computer issues so that your computer runs smoothly again and get your hands on a top of the line registry cleaner. You, and your computer, will be glad you did.

So you went out and got yourself a Trojan Virus? Unfortunately, you probably don’t have any antispyware software running on your computer or if you do, it’s of the “free” variety. Luckily, all hope is not lost - there is a way to remove that nasty little Trojan Virus and it is a lot easier than you might think.

First of all, let’s examine what has most likely led you to this point:

Mistake #1 - You don’t have any antispyware software running on your computer

Did you know that studies have shown that over 90% of all computers will get infected with spyware? It is absolutely critical that you are proactive in protecting your computer against the continually increasing threat of spyware and malware.

Mistake #2 - If you are running antispyware software, it is a freebie that you downloaded

Ask yourself why all vendors that provide you a completely free spyware remover also have a paid upgrade to a pro or full version. It is because the freebies don’t work as well - they are simply provided to give you a taste of what the full version can do.

Most spyware removers allow you to scan your computer for free, but if you can also remove the infections for free then you aren’t using an effective program.

Mistake #3 - You thought you could do it yourself

Unless you are a computer professional, you should never attempt to manually delete viruses or spyware as you could end up deleting something you really need and then you’ll really be in trouble.

Plus, spyware and viruses have become much more complicated and smart in that they embed themselves in some of the deepest parts of your computer’s registry and files so even if you think you know what files to remove, chances are high that you won’t be successful in totally removing the threat. And it is within those deeply hidden files that the threats can reinstall themselves.

Mistake #4 - Taking the advice of others who aren’t computer professionals

Whether it is your spouse, your friend, your cousin or your next door neighbor the carpenter, you shouldn’t take advice from these people when it comes to keeping your computer clean and safe - unless they are a trained computer professional.

After all, would you take financial advice from your car mechanic?

Having said all of that, it should have become pretty clear what you need to do if you want to get rid of that Trojan Virus for good - forget the freebies and forget about any type of manual removal and get out and get yourself the best spyware remover (a Trojan Virus or Worm really is spyware, not a virus) you possibly can.

Not only will it get rid of any current Trojan Virus you may have, but it will also provide you with the necessary real time protection that will prevent future spyware infections from ever making it to your computer.

It’s known primarily as The Facebook Virus, but a new Trojan called Koobface is spreading like wildfire via not only Facebook but other social networks such as Bebo, MySpace, and Friendster. Many users have become aware of how they have gotten this worm and what to look for to prevent it, however what they don’t know is just how dangerous it can be.

How Koobface Infects Your Computer

Koobface spreads by sending out notes to friends of somebody whose computer has already been infected. The subject line will read something to the effect of “You look funny in this movie” or “You look great in this movie.” What happens when the link is clicked however, is that users are redirected to a website that attempts to install what appears to be an update to Adobe’s Flash Player. But what really happens when a user agrees to download the update is that the Trojan then downloads and infects your computer.

Once infected, users will be redirected to all kinds of adverts and malicious websites when attempting to access search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

This will actually lead to more and more spyware and Trojan worm infections, and it will eventually become so bad that it becomes literally impossible to use your computer. But that is not the worst of it.

Why It Is So Dangerous

Like so many other malware or spyware infections, the ultimate goal of Koobface is to get hold of sensitive information i.e. credit card details, bank account information, passwords, PIN numbers, etc. and if any or all of this information is obtained, then the likelihood that you’ll have your identity stolen increases exponentially.

Unfortunately, most people simply think that getting infected with spyware or malware is at the very worst a nuisance that may render their computer almost unusable. And while that is a pretty bad thing in and of itself, the reality is that at the very worst, anybody at anytime can have their identity stolen via a spyware or malware infection and Koobface is no different.

This is why it has become so critical that you invest a small amount of money in top of the line spyware removal software so that you can not only get rid of Koobface A.K.A. The Facebook Virus, but protect your computer from future infections as well.

Because making that small investment now is a much better alternative to the thousands of dollars you stand to lose in false credit card charges, legal fees, etc. if you become a victim of identity theft.

As a computer professional, one of the most common questions I get asked is about registry clean up, and more specifically - “Do registry cleaners work?” People really want to know that if they spend money on a registry cleaner, it will truly do what it says it will - and the answer is yes, it will, provided you know what to look for when doing your research.

All registry cleaners offer the basics - the obvious detection of registry errors, the fixing of those errors, and backup and restore capability. Most also offer a deep scan and will create a log for every action performed, which are two features you definitely want to make sure the cleaner you choose does have the ability to perform. It is the advanced features, however, that truly make the difference between just an average registry cleaner and one that will speed up your computer significantly.

Registry Compacting and Optimization

This is arguably the most important feature that sets apart the top of the line registry cleaners from the ho-hum basic ones.

Over time, your computer’s registry becomes fragmented much in the same manner as your hard drive does. Now if you have ever run a disk defragmentation (which should be performed at the very least monthly), then you know how much faster your computer can run when that process is finished.

Well the same thing happens when a registry cleaner performs a compacting and optimization of your registry. While most cleaners simply perform a basic registry clean up, you may not notice a significant performance increase because of the fragmentation that still exists within all of your registry entries. In other words, it will still take your operating system and programs a significant amount of time to find what they need if they must look in several places and piece those entries together.

A compacting and optimization of your registry basically examines all the entries and reorganizes them in a manner that allows your operating system and applications to find what they need in a much more efficient manner because they don’t need to look in several places, as everything they need can be found rather quickly.

This reorganization results in a significant performance increase not only in the time it takes your computer to boot but also in the time it takes to perform tasks and run applications.

Registry Monitoring Feature

One other important feature that you should look for when comparing different registry cleaners is whether or not the cleaner actively monitors your registry for potential corruption and errors.

This works much like a real time protection agent in your antivirus or antispyware software, whereas the software actively monitors for potential threats, in this case your registry cleaner software will continually monitor your registry for problems.

Over the long term, proactive monitoring can save you a lot of headaches as potential errors and registry corruption can be prevented long before they have a significant impact on your computer’s performance.

In a nutshell, if you are looking to perform registry clean up on your system you can be assured that registry cleaners do work. However, you need to also be aware that because of the more advanced features that are available, some registry cleaners work far better than others.