Many anti-spyware applications come built-in with background guards that help protect your computer from installing and running spyware in the first place. These may be called different names depending on the software, such as:

* "Active Protection" (CounterSpy)
* "Auto-Protect" (McAfee AntiSpyware)
* "TeaTimer" (Spybot Search and Destroy)
* "Venus Spy Trap" (Trend Micro)
...among others.

If you run more than one of these anti-spyware applications, it is possible that multiple background guards may run simultaneously. While it is possible that one guard may detect activities another guard may miss, it is also likely that malicious activities could cause multiple guards to appear, popping up several alerts on your screen. Thus, you need to strongly consider whether or not you wish to run multiple protection processes simultaneously. If not, be sure to disable the one that you think is least likely to help you.

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