Spyware By The Numbers, Forbes, 17 Jan 2005

“Spyware is starting to replace e-mail spam as the time-hogging, productivity-robbing computer problem of the moment: Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) said that 12% of the calls to its support line in 2004 related to spyware. That may not seem big when compared to spam--trillions of e-mail messages per year qualify as spam. But while spam just loads up an e-mail in-box with unwanted messages, spyware can take up valuable workspace on a PC or steal sensitive personal information.�

Full story at http://www.forbes.com/2005/01/17/cx_ah_0117spynumbers.html