|
A lot of people have been asking about protecting their computers from the
ever increasing threat of viruses and spyware and direct malicious attacks
on their machines. I have put together a list of software that I recommend
using.
Mcafee Antivirus: Does what it
says on the tin. You can buy it from www.mcafee.com or
use the free web
based checker service which they offer.
If you buy this and have broadband set it to update everyday.
Stinger: An
emergency virus checker that works when you have a virus that kills your
main virus checker
or fools it into thinking there are no viruses. This detects 30-odd
of the worst viruses and can be downloaded from McAfee's AVERT
Tools site.
Run once a month.
Adaware: Removes
a lot of malicious software including software that searches for email addresses
and monitors what sites you look at and sells the info to advertisers.
It can be downloaded from Lavasoft's Downloads Section
Run once a month
Spy-Bot: Similar to Adaware
but detects slightly different things and includes permenant protection against
about 2000 malicious bits of software. Download from safer-networking.org and
make sure you choose to immunize the system as well as running the scan.
Run once a month
Zonealarm: Network
protection software that protects you when you are on the web. Protects against
viruses and software that hijacks your computer secretly - 90% of all viruses
are send via hijacked computers. A standard BT broadband connection
gets upto 500 attacks / probes a day! Zonealarm also controls what software
you allow to access the web. Download direct from the Zonelabs site.
Non-technical users be sure to go through the 2 minute tutorial
Email Spam Protection: If you are getting lots of spam,
which is often how viruses get to you in emails, there is a very good anti-spam
service called Spam Interceptor that
is free but can be upgraded to add functionality and sorts your email into
'Good', 'not sure' and 'bad' based on analysing millions of emails
an comparing against a good and bad emai list that you can give it. This
is all done online so it actually stops you downloading all the spam in
the first place.
Check the Cache and Trash folders twice a week
|
