Note to all: Find out what you can about spyware. I had some
problems this weekend. I somehow got a variant of CWS
(CoolWebSearch) spyware which hijacked my AOL browser. What it does,
popups appear out of nowhere, then it slowly starts to push down the
page you are viewing in favor of a suspicious "web search" page with
no brand names on it, and you can't stop it except by going offline.
When you go back online, it starts back again.

I had been hearing a little about spyware and browser hijacking in
the past few weeks, and by chance had already downloaded AD-AWARE 6.0
and SpywareBlaster, both of which helped remove the trouble. But it
took a little while because it would have helped to have had a few of
the other tools listed below. I'm not an expert on any of this, but
will be glad to answer whatever questions I can.

Another tip: Those who have Windows should get updates as often as
they can, as the updates contain patches which help deal with the
latest internet threats:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Very good info on spyware and variants:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.html

free software:
AD-AWARE 6.0
SPY-BOT SEARCH AND DESTROY
CWSHREDDER
HIJACK THIS

not free:
NORTON FIREWALL
PEST PATROL