>Beware.
>
>Somehow, the Mail Skinner program was installed onto my computer; pressummably a few accidental clicks by one of the persons who use the computer.
>
>It makes several cute emoticons available, through buttons added to Outlook Express. I can't even hide the corresponding toolbar. When trying to uninstall it - with an option provided in one of the buttons - I get directed to their Web site, which includes a question: "Why do you want to uninstall this program?" - Obviously because I didn't want this crap in the first place, damn it.
>
>Most suspicious is that I have to provide a valid e-mail address, to receive removal instructions! Other suspicious signs are, how easy it gets installed (nobody remembers having installed it), and how difficult it is to uninstall.
>
>The programm What's Running (www.whatsrunning.com) seems appropriate for removal of this and perhaps a few other pests (editor's rating at www.download.com: 4 out of 5). I hope this doesn't include its own spyware... but it does seem much more trustworthy than the aforementioned pest.

I've had good luck with Ad-aware (www.lavasoft.com) and the Microsoft Anti-spyware beta. Between the two of them, I never get spyware on any of my machines.