September 04, 2004

If you have spyware installed on your computer system and you update your operating system with the latest Windows XP Service pack 2 (SP2) update, your computer could possibly freeze.

Microsoft is warning users to check and remove any spyware before downloading the SP2 security update. Although SP2 comes with a wide variety of security updates to protect systems from worms and viruses, as well as spyware, it can't do anything to remedy current spyware already installed on systems.

That's why Microsoft is warning users to run spyware removers, such as Lavasoft's Ad-aware, before implementing the SP2 update.

"Check your computer for spyware and other unwanted software," warns Microsoft.

Spyware usually piggybacks on other software such as peer to peer music file sharing packages, and other freely available software on the internet, such as certain search bar tools.

When installed, it delivers pop-up ads and other forms of advertising to users. Spyware also tracks surfing habits and sends collected information to a central computer for analysis. It's difficult to remove spyware once installed and it can cause computer systems to slow down significantly, degrading performance.