We need to make a distinction between what is adware and what is spyware. Adware, as the name implies, are ads that are shown usually in the form of a pop-up window in your browser as you surf the Internet. In most cases they are harmless. However, they can contain dangerous software that can infect your computer and do things like monitor your browsing habits or gather personal information. I’m sure you’ve all experienced these annoying pop-up Windows. And in most cases that’s what they are, an annoyance. But you should be aware that they can be dangerous and that you should protect your computer against them by using top spyware removal tools.So that covers adware. Now let’s talk about the more dangerous of the two categories — spyware. Spyware is usually not as harmless as adware. It  is intentionally designed to infect your computer and either cause damage, run unnecessary processes that will slow down the performance of your computer, or collect personal information on your browsing habits (like adware does) and send that information back to whoever wrote the spyware.Of particular concern of course is the personal data that spyware can gather. Identity theft is becoming a huge problem around the world. Spyware is the perfect tool for people who are trying to steal identities and either sell the information or use it for their own purposes.Other types of spyware will actually record the keystrokes you make on your computer which can reveal a lot about you, your browsing habits, and your computer usage. So you can quickly see by having the best spyware software you lower your chances of having bad things happen to you. What good is this information to the spyware maker? Well what if you have to key in a credit card number and expiration date in order to buy a certain product or join a certain website. You certainly do not want that information recorded and sent back to someone because that is pretty much the same as someone having your credit card in their possession. That particular problem is not quite as serious as it could be, yet. But you do need to be protected against it just in case.Besides credit card information, spyware can also gather Social Security numbers, date of birth, names, addresses, etc. all the information that someone needs to become you, would be available to them should be wrong spyware make its way onto your hard drive..There are other varieties of adware and spyware out there and certainly more are being developed all the time. The best policy is to keep yourself protected with the best spyware and adware protection software you can get. It is definitely worth the investment.