5.1% of PCs are infected with spyware

One in twenty computers with an internet connection may be harbouring unwanted "spyware" programs that can record a user's computer use, generate nuisance pop-up ads and may pose a security risk, suggests a University of Washington study. They examined the traffic on the university campus and found that 5.1% of all connected machines had one of these four programs running. And, within the university, 69% of all departments and offices contained at least one computer running the programs. The team examined a total of 31,303 computers connected to the network.