Friday, August 20, 2004
More On Protection
Firewalls are essential today, but don't provide all the protection you need. (Why some software company hasn't hired Dr. Ruth to do an ad, I don't know.) You also need Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software. I'm stumped as to why the anti-virus vendors haven't incorporated anti-spyware into their applications, hence the need for two. I use Norton Anti-Virus. Many people like McAfee better. I can't say if one product is better than the other, but a couple of years ago I tried to get a refund on a McAfee product and had tons of trouble doing that, so I can't recommend it from a business standpoint.
For anti-spyware, you actually need a couple of different products as none of them catch everything. Ad-Aware is one product that I use and have seen recommended by others. You can Google others or through the search engine I prefer, Copernic.
Once you've installed both anti-virus and anti-adware apps, make sure you set them up for automatic updates and for regular scans (at least weekly). I also recommend that you make sure Windows update is set to automatically run at least monthly. Microsoft generally releases security patches on the second Tuesday of each month.
Finally, be cautious about how you use your computer. Don't click on things you aren't sure about. Don't let anything install on your computer unless you are absolutely sure you know what it is. Don't click on email attachments unless you absolutely know what it is, even if it's from someone you know. If you have kids, especially teenagers, check their computers too. Odds are high that they've installed some kind of peer-to-peer file sharing network application that is also spreading worms, viruses (viri ?), trojan horses, and spyware.
Update: Great information on spyware and what to do about it here.
For anti-spyware, you actually need a couple of different products as none of them catch everything. Ad-Aware is one product that I use and have seen recommended by others. You can Google others or through the search engine I prefer, Copernic.
Once you've installed both anti-virus and anti-adware apps, make sure you set them up for automatic updates and for regular scans (at least weekly). I also recommend that you make sure Windows update is set to automatically run at least monthly. Microsoft generally releases security patches on the second Tuesday of each month.
Finally, be cautious about how you use your computer. Don't click on things you aren't sure about. Don't let anything install on your computer unless you are absolutely sure you know what it is. Don't click on email attachments unless you absolutely know what it is, even if it's from someone you know. If you have kids, especially teenagers, check their computers too. Odds are high that they've installed some kind of peer-to-peer file sharing network application that is also spreading worms, viruses (viri ?), trojan horses, and spyware.
Update: Great information on spyware and what to do about it here.
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