You know when your computer suddenly slows down? You ever wonder what’s happening? You ever have to reinstall windows, or run a spyware remover?

Most people would answer ‘Yes’ to at least one of the above.

This article in the Washington Post tells you what’s happening at the other end. A hacker is being paid $7000 a *month* to install adware/spyware/crapware on *your* machine. These programs install themselves though Internet Explorer (the Internet) when you browse. They can do almost anything on your machine. However, like a parasite, they may not damage your data, though they have the potential to, they can and do spy on your surfing habits and online user accounts.

Chances are if you have strange windows popping up on your machine, it is infected. Your passwords, kids details, names, addresses could all have been sucked back to guys like this.

Dump Internet Explorer, maybe dump Windows entirely, and switch to a computer system or browsing software such as Mozilla Firefox, that makes this harder for the hackers.