***Please Help Me Identify This Spider***

I live near Toledo, Ohio and I bought a house recently and it has been pretty much over run by spiders. However over the past year I have run into a type of spider regularly that has been difficult to get a photo but now I have. It builds rather large webs, (I would say the webs are more then a foot in diameter) and I commonly find them on my Decks and connecting two bushs. From the picture he looks small, but I used a zoom to get a close picture and from my estimate its about 1 1/2 inches long. It is a very big spider and when I got close to it it didn't really respond so I don't know if it can see well. Does anyone have any idea what this is and if I should be concerned, I mostly find them outside and in the garage but they have been seen in the basement under dirty cloths piles and sometimes in corners but they always run and don't seem to bother us.

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You are right not to be concerned--it is an orbweaver (Araneid) but they can be difficult to ID further without a microscope. They're harmless and even beneficial to humans as they eat many flying pests. I like that you mentioned their vision--they do have poor eyesight as they respond mainly to vibrations in the web.
A

This is a garden orb weaver and quite beneficial. They only live during the warmer months and then die off.
glen