Spyware can be relatively harmless or downright devastating. Software programs that are designed to gather information about you are often inadvertently installed by computer users without their knowledge. Avoiding spyware isn't rocket science, but it does require computer users to be somewhat savvy in the way they conduct themselves online. If you're trying to avoid installing spyware on your computer, there are some important things to remember that will help you keep your computer clean and your personal information and identity safe.Spyware is often installed by computer users themselves who download free software from the Internet without reading end-user license agreements that typically indicate that spyware is included with the package. Most people don't read end-user license agreements because they're usually long and very boring, however, there is software available to read end-user agreements for you and detect whether or not the agreement includes verbiage that indicates that there may be spyware that will be working behind-the-scenes on your computer.Anti-spyware applications allow you to scan your computer to check to see if your computer is running spyware programs. After you do a scan on your computer, reboot it in order to check and see if there are any remaining bits and...