i've came up with a few tricks for stoping spyware
--DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS--
your first line of defense if working offline. for IE, hit file, the "work offline". it kinda kills your connection for the moment, long enough so those bastard freeservers can't install shit on your computer. you'll still get pop-ups, but they show up as "Page Not Found", which is good, because you can kill them without having to worry about 2 more popping up.
your second line of defense is disabling your network connection (if you are on cable, etc). go to control panel, then network connections, then right click whichever one is active, and disable it. your connection goes dead instantly. no more pop-ups. kill off the ones you already have, then enable your connection.
to keep "them" from installing their garbage on your computer, make sure you have a firewall, if not already. *it isnt there to look pretty, so use it.
this next step requires you to know your way around IE. go to security settings in IE, then custom level. set ALL of your activeX controls to prompt (for signed/marked as safe) and disable for unsigned/marked as unsafe. set up your computer so that it asks you to store cookies, EVERY TIME. then block ALL cookies from porn sites. *if you want, you can also disable java.
finally, get you a anti-virus/anti-spyware program, and double up. Ad-aware is great, but it misses some things, even with constant updating. Spybot is another good one. When used in pairs, Spybot gets what Ad-aware misses and vice versa. On extremely rare occaisions, i've had to bust out Norton AV. even then, i double up with an online virus scan. As a general rule, double up, and only get the anti spyware that DOESNT advertise itself; these are usually the better ones.
i'm not a computer whiz, but i just learned all this from screwing around on my computer. eventually when i take some programming classes, i'll make a program that does all this shit for you.
hope this helps
