Just got off the phone with someone who had their XP computer destroyed by spyware this morning.
What spyware can destroy XP?
We remove adware and spyware all the time, I have never seen it destroy XP.
He's not doing his homework. The simpliest way to avoid spyware is:
a) Install Spybot scan, repair and immunize then select advanced menus and go to IE tweaks to turn off the ability to change home page or access the options box. That'll thwart 99.99% of the spyware hacks.
b) Never ever download 3rd party shareware CODECS. These are being used as trojans for loading spyware.
c) Use Norton Firewall.
That should do it.