Margaret Patterson had a computer full of adware and spyware - tiny programs that dish out popups and that can send out information about your surfing habits.

Popups run from those offering to get rid of popups, to those warning of an infected computer, or that someone is spying on me. Other programs just hijack your homepage.

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It can reach the point where you can't use your computer, and some take drastic action." (I) actually reformatted my whole hard drive. Started from scratch like it came from the factory, and lost everything that I had saved from family photos with digital camera - and things like that."

Patterson is not alone. "It's extremely pervasive, the biggest adware companies say they are on between 10-15 million computers around the country," says Ari Schwartz, Associate Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). He says the spyware/adware problem is getting worse.

Where do we get them? Mostly by clicking too quickly without reading the fine print when we download free stuff and music sharing programs. Some we mistakenly download; other gremlins just slip in unannounced.

I downloaded a free screensaver off the Net. Six new icons appeared on my desktop - a game and links to eBay, casinos, and a Las Vegas vacation.

Some free music sharing programs, like Kazaa, tell you you're downloading adware. They can also let people look at more than music on your hard drive - perhaps see tax information or a resume. And programs like these can be installed by someone else, and run quietly in the background without you knowing it. (Parents take note).

The recording industry (RIAA) uses that fact to discourage illegal downloading. "People don't understand the risks they are taking when they use what they think is access to free music," says the RIAA's Cary Sherman.

Are adware and spyware legal? Yes - unless you can't get rid of them. "It is illegal for a company to put a program onto your computer and you not be able to remove it if you want to. it is a deceptive practice and an unfair practice," Says CDT's Schwartz.

What can you do? In addition to resisting the temptation to download a lot of things from the Internet, you can install a personal firewall to keep spyware from calling home without you knowing it. And you can use software to scan for and remove a lot of adware and spyware.

Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy work very well. They found dozens of offending programs found on my computer. Spybot allows you to immunize your machine to keep many of them from coming back.

For popups, the search engine Google offers a special toolbar that provides a free popup blocker.

The problem of Spyware and adware is growing quickly – so quickly the FTC will be holding a big workshop in Washington April 19th.