Me Vs. My Computer!

OK, I have recently had it pointed out to me that I hadn't made an update here for awhile! I honestly didn't realize that much time had gone by! Anyway, I would like to use this post to make sure that no one else has to go through what I have been with my computer! I have spent this past week fighting with this thing, and I thought it was going to win. But, I think I have finally come out in the lead!
For the past few weeks, I have noticed it getting slower and slower, and sometimes it just did strange things - freeze up and I couldn't shut it off, blank screen when I started it, going REALLY slow, etc. Finally, about 4 days ago, it just wouldn't do anything! It was shutting down programs when I was working on things, it would disconnect from the internet, and it had gotten beyond slow. Anyway, I figured it was pretty much about to go to computer heaven, so I spent a whole day getting all my pictures and files off the hard drive and onto a CD. Then, that night, things just got worse. When it would let me connect to the internet, I couldn't see half the things on the page, and then it would disconnect. Finally, I read that I might have spyware or adware on it. Apparently, when you have those pop-ups come up, you can sometimes end up with this kind of spyware on your computer, which actually keeps track of the sites you are browsing, and your information is sent to - I don't know who! I think it is just crazy!
Anyway, I downloaded something called AdAware that was recommended (and free!), and what a difference it makes! I can't believe how bad my comuter had been for the last few weeks! I am a bit worried about any of my information that may have been obtained, but I guess that is why you need to be careful. (One thing about it - if anyone is trying to steal my identity, they will have a sad awakening when they try getting money! Once they see my bank account, they would likely flee pretty quickly! They might even feel like leaving a donation!) So, my advice is to install this kind of spyware detector, before you get to the point I was!

Sorry I don't have any witty or insightful thoughts for this post. This was really the best I could come up with!