Special Report Table Of Contents:
Introduction
What Is Spyware And Why Should IT Care?
Readers Share Their Spyware Strategies
Strategy 1: Tools, Tools, And More Tools
Strategy 2: Developing Enterprisewide Strategies
Download Software Recommended By Our Readers

Call it spyware, malware, or adware--users loathe it, ad networks love it, Congress has it in its crosshairs. Most importantly, as an IT professional, you can't ignore it. It slows down your users' systems, impacts your end users' productivity, and could even degrade performance of your networks and network applications.

Seeking to get a better handle on the spyware problem, InformationWeek.com asked readers to rate its impact today in an online poll. Their feedback was clear--spyware is a growing problem in the enterprise. The results from 941 responses to this online, nonscientific poll:

• Spyware is not a problem at all, we haven't noticed it, 6%
• It's a minor problem, we've had to clean up a few desktop PCs, 44%
• It's a major problem; we've been forced to clean up many PCs and institute corporate policies to prevent reoccurrence, 42%
• It's a catastrophic problem; it has caused major IT problems, including significant downtime or high costs to remove and monitor, 8%

Although antidotes do exist, spyware/adware is a fast-moving target and a tough challenge for IT departments to deal with. Walk through this InformationWeek.com Special Report to learn all about spyware, including the favored strategies and tools of InformationWeek.com readers for defending against it.