No net-savvy user can underestimate the danger posed by Spyware. These malicious programs cause losses worth millions of dollars to corporates and individuals alike and huge amounts of money are spent in fighting these fast breeding threats. Spyware programs can lurk in your data, stealing crucial information like credit card numbers and personal browsing history. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. So here’s a list of the most dangerous spyware doing the rounds, brought to you through FaceTime Security Labs.

The first among the many enemies is Gator. Gator is used to store the password of a site for retrieving it while visiting that particular site. You end up paying for this service by enduring frustrating pop-ups. There have been some efforts by Claria, who created Gator, to alter it for a more user friendly version but the problem hasn?t been solved as yet.

CoolWebSearch is a spyware that redirects you to CoolWebSearch.com or Datanotary.com by tricking your browser. It is difficult to remove it from the system and has to be uninstalled carefully, never manually, unless more damage is done. It has evolved into more troublesome versions.

3. 180SearchAssistant ? When you get some ?freebie? types of software like emoticons or wallpapers, this software also is given bundled along. As you install this software, it would annoy with pop-up ads or unwanted website windows related to the keyword searches that you have made earlier. The recent versions of this software, of course, comes with an option for add/remove program uninstall feature.

4. Huntbar ? Another piece of annoying software, Hunthar, manages to install a toolbar in both your internet explorer and windows explorer windows. It will also change your home page and settings for search to redirect you to their own search engine. This can be highly annoying and also consume an exorbitant memory space of over 15%.

Cydoor is the next in line among its illustrious brothers and sisters. The main source of this program is the peer to peer (P2P) software. Much like the others mentioned above, it frustrates the users no end by incessant advertisement pop ups and also tracks the browser history.

ISTbar sticks to your system through install ActiveX and javascript. It?s as easy as visiting a site and you have a brand new program called ISTbar. It?s extremely dangerous as it siphons off the information to my-internet.info and Blazefind.com.

WhenU-DesktopBar is capable of running codes from a distant server just by using update settings. Your searches will then popup all kinds of unwanted special offers and free coupons which paralyse your own computer work needs.

New.net must be exterminated without a blink of an eye. It specialises in selling non-standard top domain names.

9. IEPlugin ? Another invasive software that installs a toolbar in the internet explorer, as its name implies. After installation, it will track you web site usage, create unwanted items like names, addresses etc and spy on local files that are browsed. You are strongly advised to remove this spyware.

BargainBuddy was once an infamous and ubiquitous program. Distributed by BullzEye Network, it would set up browser Helper Object to keep an eye on the system. It would study the keywords being used and would send advertisement your way based on that.