Lee

Yahoo Inc. on Thursday joined the fight against unwanted software that monitors users' Web surfing, alters their home pages and bombards them with ads.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., company announced a beta for its Web browser toolbar that includes an anti-spyware plug-in for finding and removing spyware and other unwanted programs.

The Anti-Spy beta for the Yahoo Toolbar also lets users manage various spyware and other downloaded software, including restoring programs accidentally removed, Yahoo said.

For the new toolbar beta, Yahoo is making use of anti-spyware software from PestPatrol Inc., which offers a commercial version of its anti-spyware applications.

http://beta.toolbar.yahoo.com/

info (www.iexbeta.com)