How to protect your (computer) self

Anybody who is active on the Internets is exposed to merchandising efforts constantly. Lots of these are in the form of creepy little programs that follow what you do to figure out how to sell you more stuff.

Some spyware is malevolent, thus malware. It doesn’t want to sell you something, it wants to rip you off in some way. It can bring in programs to make your computer part of an alternate network to distribute spam, or it can install a keylogger to steal credit card numbers and other data. Or not. You can prevent most of this with good computer security habits.


Make sure you have an anti-virus program. It will be AVG, Macafee, Norton, TrendMicro or something else. If you don’t know, look it up. It’s important. The anti-virus program must be working and updated frequently. These programs will protect you from the most malicious, take-over-your-whole-computer viruses. If you don’t have an anti-virus program, try AVG Free 8.0 by Grisoft www.grisoft.com. It’s a great program.

You will also need spyware detection. I prefer Spybot Search & Destroy. It not only can find and remove spyware, perhaps more importantly it can immunize you against thousands of these irritating programs. Google Spybot Search & Destroy to find a download site for this wonderful free program. (It is free, but please consider making a donation to keep the White Hats in business protecting the rest of us!)

Firewall, too? Yeah. The Windows version if nothing else. Macafee, Norton, and others offer firewalls in their protection suites. If you don’t have a firewall, try ZoneAlarm, which can be found here: http://www.zonealarm.com/.

You must keep these programs updated. There are jerks out there actively writing code to invade for gain. There are also White Hats trying to block them as soon as they surface. Each new solution is folded into the updates – to keep actively protected you must update. This can almost always be set up automatically, with minimal intrusion to you.


“I’m not Google, Sam”
the devil
The Reaper on CW