Don't wait until your computer breaks to hire our Fort Lauderdale computer repair service. Confused by that statement? Why would you have the need something that isn't broken? Simply put: because your computer might already be broken, you just don't know it yet. A 2006 survey by Webroot Software, as reported by Nathan Halverson of The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, CA, shows that nine out of 10 computers are infected with some form of invasive program installed without a user's knowledge. Personal letter, tax returns, bank account passwords - they could all be at risk to be accessed by strangers. "It makes you feel like you're being violated," said Bob Hochderffer, a California real estate agent and mortgage broker whose two-year-old computer was derailed by malicious programs installed without his knowledge. Our Fort Lauderdale computer service can explain why the need for security software like anti-virus and anti-spyware programs has become as necessary as oil in an engine or a lock on your door, computer security experts say. Don't be one of the people who think they remain out of harm's way by simply minding what e-mail attachments they open are mistaken. "Websites can infect your PC by just visiting them," said Gerhard Eschelbeck, chief technology officer for Webroot Software. "Your computer might not show any signs to you. It all happens pretty much in the background." Because people are increasingly accessing information such as bank accounts and stock portfolios online - while using credit cards to make purchases from Internet retailers - criminals have every incentive to try and infiltrate your accounts. Cybercrooks have developed a range of software programs to rip off unsuspecting victims. "Spyware as it started out four years ago was different than it is today," Eschelbeck said. In the beginning, spyware would often only monitor users' habits, perhaps with the intent of selling the information to marketers. And it might also include what is called adware, which would pop up annoying advertisements soliciting users or demanding payment for the problem to go away. But spyware has evolved from an annoyance into a threat. "The goal now is to be as quiet and as stealthy in the background as possible so it can continue to harvest data ... anything that can be stolen and used for resale purposes. That is what we are dealing with today," Eschelbeck said. In Hochderffer's case, which occurred in December, his computer slowed to a crawl, making him think something in his computer was physically broken. It turned out to be malware leeching all his processing power and crowding his computer's memory. The cost of letting our Ft. Lauderdale computer repair shop rid your machine of malware is nothing compared to the damage that may even be going on right now. "I don't mind paying someone who is good and can fix it," Hochderffer said. "I've got client information on my computer. I run all those (security) programs when I close down my computer. But even then - even then - every now and then it gets penetrated. It's frustrating."