What is a Spybot virus, what damage can it do, and how can I get rid of it?

While previous answer sheds some light on a spybot I think it is important that a few things are clarified.

The name spybot is generic however there is a program called spybot which is not a spyware trojan program but an anti spyware trojan program.

This program is free ... see http://www.tucows.com/preview/310138 for the download section of this repair tool.

Spyware and trojans are not virus's but many get it confused.
Virus's attack your computer to corrupt files or change the function of keys etc.

Spyware spys on your computer and reports back the information to some other site on the Internet. This can affect you in various ways. One way is to send personal information to the Internet.

A trojan can do the same thing but usually hides its identity so it makes it difficult for anti spyware programs to detect. It may also run programs to send spam mail from your computer etc.

The only answer is to regularly update your anti spyware program definitions which usually means you have to get them from the anti spyware web site.
One company that has combined the two problems is Symantec/Nortons Anti Virus 2007. It checks for both virus's and spyware/trojans. It is not a free program however but is very good imo.

http://shop.symantecstore.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Env=BASE&Locale=en_US&SiteID=symnahho&id=ProductDetailsTrialPage&productID=59771400

cut and paste this into your browsers address bar. It is a 15 day trial program. Sorry for the long URL. It is one line.

Hope this helps clarify it.
Grandbubba.

A spybot virus is what it's name implies - it simply records everything you do and sends them over the internet to the "spybotter" The original bigtime spybot was Napster - it would copy files from your system without telling you. Soon, more than music was being copied.

As a spybot is actually a virus - Antivirus software will do the trick.