how to find fight keyloggers

If your computer is accessed by other people (or even if not) you may want to find if somebody tries to steal your private data. One of the most used ways to do this is by installing a keylogger, a software (or even worse hardware) that captures the user's keystrokes (and that means they can see your passwords, credit card data, private conversations, output e-mails...). Here are a few ways you can use to check if a keylogger is installed on your computer:

1. Use up to date anti virus and/or anti spyware software
Typically a good anti virus software will find most of the commercial keyloggers and maybe more. Keep the software up to date and don't forget to enable advanced detection features for best results (for example check "Potentially unwanted applications" in NOD32).

2. Use a special software tool
There are a bunch of anti-keylogger software on the market and you may get better results with those. I recommend you to use them if you think there is a high possibility to have a keylogger installed. For example I found Cyberhawk to be the only software that detected a custom made keylogger. Kasperky does a good job in this area too. Also check anti-spy.info. More examples:

• http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
• http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
• http://security.kolla.de/
• http://www.clamwin.com
  

3. Find it yourself
If you are more like an advanced user you can try finding keyloggers by using a few tools like regedit (registry editor) and/or Process Explorer. It will save you some money but it gets harder and harder to find advanced spyware. You can look here or here for more information about using Process Explorer.
You can also try some hot key combination that are used by this kind of software. Examples: Ctrl + Alt + X or Ctrl + Alt + Wondows Key + X

4. Free tools you can use:

• PSMAntiKeyLogger
  PSMAntiKeyLogger is a real-time protecting software which protects you against Keyloggers. No scanning is needed.
• SnoopFree
  Freeware antikeylogger that block hook based keyloggers as well as screen captures. For Windows XP.
• I Hate Keyloggers
  Freeware antikeylogger that block hook based keyloggers. For Windows 2000 and XP.
• KL-Detector
  Freeware on demand keylogger scanner.

The best way to protect you against keyloggers is to prevent their installation. You can do this by limiting other Windows users accounts. You can find a good guide here. I advise you to try at least step 1 because you can never know...