TIDBITS
Between 1716 and 1943 there have been 1,300 fatal bites from insects in the U.S. Most of those bites were in the days of outdoor privies. All spiders are not as dangerous as the movies portray.
Spiders control thrips, aphids, caterpillars, plant bugs, leafhoppers, cucumber beetles, ants, grasshoppers, scarabs, flies, and termites. Spiders are the best biocontrol agents known.
Spiders are nearsighted. They can see only a few inches. If they are running towards you, they don't know it.
The black widow rarely leaves its course web. The male does not bite. These spiders will bite only out of self-defense.

PREVENTION
Spiders need to hide. Keep inside areas free of clutter and accessible to weekly vacuuming or sweeping. Outdoors keep plants away from the house, especially near open widows. Keep woodpiles away from the house and clear up clutter. If you kill all the spiders in a junk pile, the next day more will move in. Without food, spiders will look elsewhere for homes. So move the junk!

CONTROLS
Vacuum up the spider and web. If you are nervous about the spider escaping, you can seal the bag in a plastic bag and then dump the bag. If you don't want to dump a half used bag, seal the bag in plastic and put in the freezer or in the sun for two days.