What Are Anti Virus Software, Anti Spyware Software & Computer Firewalls & What Can They Do For You? by Miguel Poza
Now that most people use the internet these days, it is a very good idea to make sure that you have good quality computer security software installed and protecting your computer. Anti virus software, anti spyware software and having a hardware or software firewall are now essential for everyone using a computer and here is an explanation why this is so.
Anti Virus software protects your computer from virus threats that can contaminate your computer and can slow down your computer, damage your files or even damage your computers hard drive requiring you to reformat your hard drive and needing to reinstall your operating system in order to get things back to normal. So as you can see anti virus software is an essential thing to have if you want to keep your computer healthy and free from viruses.
It is not enough just to install the anti virus software however, you will also need to keep it up to date in order to protect your computer from new anti virus threats, fortunately this is easy to do as most anti virus software programs let you update their anti virus files over the internet.
So what is anti spyware software exactly? Well anti spyware software is another kind of security program which protects your computer against all kinds of undesirables, such as spyware, keystroke loggers, malware, tracking cookies, dialers, trojans and unwanted commercial software. All of these things should be removed from your computer so that your computer security is not compromised. A good quality antispyware software program will protect your identity from unscrupulous people, hackers and fraudsters so that you can have peace of mind.
A computer firewall is either a software program or a hardware device which only allows authorised users to access your computer system and stops all unauthorized users from gaining access to your computer through the internet or a network. So a firewall stops malicious users from accessing your system and this is absolutely essential if you use the internet, especially if you have an always on broadband connection on your computer. So which is better to have a software firewall or a hardware firewall? Well a software firewall will give you good firewall protection, but the absolute best firewall to have is a hardware one because this is even harder to get past for a malicious user.
So in summary, if you do not already have an antivirus program, an anti spyware program and a firewall, then you really should look into getting these things as they will save you a lot of hassle and worry in the future.
About the Author
Miguel Poza runs a website about computer security & broadband services which includes reviews of the latest computer security software & broadband services. Please visit it at Computer Security Software Reviews & Broadband Services Guide
Sunday, December 24, 2006
How to effectively guard against malware
How to effectively guard against malware by Ken Ong
Being much involved in the internet marketing business myself, I know the chances of being infected with some of the malware are rather high. This is especially so for someone who gets complacent because such mishaps have never happened before, thinking such stuff will never happen because I have the latest anti-virus software. Remember, a single moment of carelessness is enough to haunt you for a long time, and very often, just having anti-virus software is not enough to protect you.
Nowadays, site admins or webmasters can easily program some codes into their websites and when you visit these websites, your computer may be infected unknowingly with malware. Or someone sends spams to your POP mail box and you download those spams to your computer and unknowingly launch some programs that come with it. These are usually spyware, trojans or keyloggers. Also you don't want your computer to be part of the zombie network that launches DDOS attacks on other websites. This problem is more acute if you are heavily involved in autosurfs, HYIPs or traffic exchanges because you need to surf or click many stranger sites everyday in your routine. Also HYIP arena is a place full of sleazy thieves who are very capable of stealing money right under your noses. Everyday there are reports of people being stolen of E-Golds and such thing happened to me before too. It's scary, isn't it? So how to prevent such things from happening?
1. Throw away your Windows operating systems Due to the prevalence of Windows operating systems, in fact I think more than 80% of world use Windows, thieves prefer to design malware specially for such big group of users. Call it economy of greater returns, a viral effect could spread out in very short time to harm millions of computers world-wide. In fact, switch to alternatives like Linux operating systems whose architecture is built not to propagate malware even if it were hit and also chances of being hit are extremely low. An excellent Linux distro to recommend is Ubuntu.
2. Throw away Internet Explorer. If you prefer to stick to Windows, at least do yourself a favour by using alternative browsers like Firefox or Opera and for mail client, switch to something like Thunderbird. For Firefox, you may want to install No-Script add-on for added security.
3. Install a good firewall software Firewalls are programs that constantly monitor your internet's inbound and outbound traffics. It can warn you in the event your computer's malware attempt to connect to the outside thus letting you have idea of what programs are using your connections. It can block unknown outside traffic packets from reaching your computers too.
4. Use a real time Malware scanner Having an anti-virus protecting you real time is no longer enough because anti-virus software is not able to guard you against spyware, trojans or worms. Often it is this category of malware that harm you the most so you got to install a real time malware scanner. Currently I am using an excellent real time malware scanner called a-square anti-malware from Emsisoft for more than 1 year and I really find it a great choice to recommend it to all.
5. Use Gmail as your online email Face it, your Yahoo or hotmail email accounts are not as secure as Gmail so it is good that you switch to Gmail for some of the more confidential online accounts you have. Also a good practice is to delete all the welcome emails from the sites that you are members because these emails usually contain your login passwords which can be tampered with if there's an unlawful access.
6. Use complicated passwords Use password generators to generate complex passwords for you. Most importantly, do you use a same password for all the sites you registered with. Use different and complex passwords for each of your accounts. You can use an excellent password manager like Roboform to manager and generate complex passwords for you.
Those are the few main points to have a safe online experience. Remember, online security is a must now.
About the Author
Ken Ong is a full time internet marketer. He has been earning online from a diverse range of methods. Some of these are, autosurfs, traffic exchanges, high yield investment programs, online investment programs, affiliates marketing and email marketing. His blog can be found at Make Money Online | Security | SEO.
Being much involved in the internet marketing business myself, I know the chances of being infected with some of the malware are rather high. This is especially so for someone who gets complacent because such mishaps have never happened before, thinking such stuff will never happen because I have the latest anti-virus software. Remember, a single moment of carelessness is enough to haunt you for a long time, and very often, just having anti-virus software is not enough to protect you.
Nowadays, site admins or webmasters can easily program some codes into their websites and when you visit these websites, your computer may be infected unknowingly with malware. Or someone sends spams to your POP mail box and you download those spams to your computer and unknowingly launch some programs that come with it. These are usually spyware, trojans or keyloggers. Also you don't want your computer to be part of the zombie network that launches DDOS attacks on other websites. This problem is more acute if you are heavily involved in autosurfs, HYIPs or traffic exchanges because you need to surf or click many stranger sites everyday in your routine. Also HYIP arena is a place full of sleazy thieves who are very capable of stealing money right under your noses. Everyday there are reports of people being stolen of E-Golds and such thing happened to me before too. It's scary, isn't it? So how to prevent such things from happening?
1. Throw away your Windows operating systems Due to the prevalence of Windows operating systems, in fact I think more than 80% of world use Windows, thieves prefer to design malware specially for such big group of users. Call it economy of greater returns, a viral effect could spread out in very short time to harm millions of computers world-wide. In fact, switch to alternatives like Linux operating systems whose architecture is built not to propagate malware even if it were hit and also chances of being hit are extremely low. An excellent Linux distro to recommend is Ubuntu.
2. Throw away Internet Explorer. If you prefer to stick to Windows, at least do yourself a favour by using alternative browsers like Firefox or Opera and for mail client, switch to something like Thunderbird. For Firefox, you may want to install No-Script add-on for added security.
3. Install a good firewall software Firewalls are programs that constantly monitor your internet's inbound and outbound traffics. It can warn you in the event your computer's malware attempt to connect to the outside thus letting you have idea of what programs are using your connections. It can block unknown outside traffic packets from reaching your computers too.
4. Use a real time Malware scanner Having an anti-virus protecting you real time is no longer enough because anti-virus software is not able to guard you against spyware, trojans or worms. Often it is this category of malware that harm you the most so you got to install a real time malware scanner. Currently I am using an excellent real time malware scanner called a-square anti-malware from Emsisoft for more than 1 year and I really find it a great choice to recommend it to all.
5. Use Gmail as your online email Face it, your Yahoo or hotmail email accounts are not as secure as Gmail so it is good that you switch to Gmail for some of the more confidential online accounts you have. Also a good practice is to delete all the welcome emails from the sites that you are members because these emails usually contain your login passwords which can be tampered with if there's an unlawful access.
6. Use complicated passwords Use password generators to generate complex passwords for you. Most importantly, do you use a same password for all the sites you registered with. Use different and complex passwords for each of your accounts. You can use an excellent password manager like Roboform to manager and generate complex passwords for you.
Those are the few main points to have a safe online experience. Remember, online security is a must now.
About the Author
Ken Ong is a full time internet marketer. He has been earning online from a diverse range of methods. Some of these are, autosurfs, traffic exchanges, high yield investment programs, online investment programs, affiliates marketing and email marketing. His blog can be found at Make Money Online | Security | SEO.
How To Tighten Up Your Email Security
How To Tighten Up Your Email Security by Paul Wilcox
These days email is a necessary part of communication. However, this also means that email is one of the most popular ways for a virus to infect your computer. You need to protect yourself from the threat of fraud and infection.
Viruses
Email attachments often contain viruses so you need to be careful whenever you open any type of attachment even if you know the sender. There are some viruses that can infiltrate your address book and then send email that is infected to everyone on your list. This means that you can get a virus from a colleague or a friend. The best thing to do is to communicate with the sender so that you know you are expecting an attachment.
Software for virus protection is your best bet against viruses. This software will scan all your email attachments when they are received on your computer. All computers that have Internet access will need to have antivirus software so that all systems are protected as one big whole. There are some viruses that will start with one computer system and then spread to the rest of the network, eventually encompassing all the hardware that is needed to access the Internet.
Phishing
Email can lead to fraud, which is yet another type of security risk. Phishing, is one type of fraud that will try to trick you into giving out personal passwords or banking information. This type of email will use the logo from a well known banking institution or online business after which they will ask you to update your banking information or your password.
Phishing provides a link that looks as though it is legitimate but that in fact will lead you to a false website. If you provide them with personal information you become a victim of theft or fraud on your credit card. This is also known as "identity theft".
Email content and subject lines can be your clue to phishing. Instead of using your name the subject line might say something like "To our valued customer". It isn't hard to find some variant for personal names so be on the alert.
Less of clue to phishing is when a link is included that has nothing to do with the text in the email. You can verify this by highlighting the link and paying attention to the status bar. For example, if the email text is something about Microsoft, and the URL is www.nowhereland.com, you have a good clue that the message you've received isn't really from Microsoft.
There is software that can detect whether phishing is occurring. Even though this software isn't fully mature yet it can at least identify if an email is fraud. Whenever you are asked for your credit card number or a password you should be suspicious. Always keep in mind that no legitimate banking institution will ask you to give personal information or to verify any passwords in the content of an email.
E-mail Backups
Your email, just like other data on your computer, should always be backed up. Most email programs will be easy to back up. All you need to do is export your email messages to a selected folder and then do a backup on this folder. You can use a backup program and put your email onto a writeable CD, DVD, removable disk, or any other type of media.
You also have the option of buying backup software that is specialized for backing up email. This software is moderately priced and eliminates the need to export your email to a folder.
You can automate most backup software so that backups happen at a time that is convenient without you having to lend a hand. You'll have to find time in your busy schedule to configure this type of software. However, you'll be no more busy doing the configuring as you would be if you need to replace an email that you needed.
About the Author
Paul Wilcox writes about internet security and other related topics. Sign up for my free newsletter and receive my special report "How To Lock Your Computer Down - Internet Security in 2006" at http://www.internetsecuritysquad.com/freereport
These days email is a necessary part of communication. However, this also means that email is one of the most popular ways for a virus to infect your computer. You need to protect yourself from the threat of fraud and infection.
Viruses
Email attachments often contain viruses so you need to be careful whenever you open any type of attachment even if you know the sender. There are some viruses that can infiltrate your address book and then send email that is infected to everyone on your list. This means that you can get a virus from a colleague or a friend. The best thing to do is to communicate with the sender so that you know you are expecting an attachment.
Software for virus protection is your best bet against viruses. This software will scan all your email attachments when they are received on your computer. All computers that have Internet access will need to have antivirus software so that all systems are protected as one big whole. There are some viruses that will start with one computer system and then spread to the rest of the network, eventually encompassing all the hardware that is needed to access the Internet.
Phishing
Email can lead to fraud, which is yet another type of security risk. Phishing, is one type of fraud that will try to trick you into giving out personal passwords or banking information. This type of email will use the logo from a well known banking institution or online business after which they will ask you to update your banking information or your password.
Phishing provides a link that looks as though it is legitimate but that in fact will lead you to a false website. If you provide them with personal information you become a victim of theft or fraud on your credit card. This is also known as "identity theft".
Email content and subject lines can be your clue to phishing. Instead of using your name the subject line might say something like "To our valued customer". It isn't hard to find some variant for personal names so be on the alert.
Less of clue to phishing is when a link is included that has nothing to do with the text in the email. You can verify this by highlighting the link and paying attention to the status bar. For example, if the email text is something about Microsoft, and the URL is www.nowhereland.com, you have a good clue that the message you've received isn't really from Microsoft.
There is software that can detect whether phishing is occurring. Even though this software isn't fully mature yet it can at least identify if an email is fraud. Whenever you are asked for your credit card number or a password you should be suspicious. Always keep in mind that no legitimate banking institution will ask you to give personal information or to verify any passwords in the content of an email.
E-mail Backups
Your email, just like other data on your computer, should always be backed up. Most email programs will be easy to back up. All you need to do is export your email messages to a selected folder and then do a backup on this folder. You can use a backup program and put your email onto a writeable CD, DVD, removable disk, or any other type of media.
You also have the option of buying backup software that is specialized for backing up email. This software is moderately priced and eliminates the need to export your email to a folder.
You can automate most backup software so that backups happen at a time that is convenient without you having to lend a hand. You'll have to find time in your busy schedule to configure this type of software. However, you'll be no more busy doing the configuring as you would be if you need to replace an email that you needed.
About the Author
Paul Wilcox writes about internet security and other related topics. Sign up for my free newsletter and receive my special report "How To Lock Your Computer Down - Internet Security in 2006" at http://www.internetsecuritysquad.com/freereport
You Got To Protect Your Computer!@!
You Got To Protect Your Computer by David Fishman
These days it is a must to have a good, reliable virus protection program. There happens to be a many good free virus protection software packages out on the internet today. The only way to protect our pc today is using software that acts like a antidote to the disease. By using this software you can take preventive measures of stopping the disease before it infects the system.
Removable media such as cds, floppy disks, usb keys that are infected and used in another system can carry the virus and infect the other machine. If you computer is infected with a virus you will need to remove the virus as soon as possible otherwise it can infect the system completely and spread to others. If a computer is infected by a computer virus the computer needs to be scanned by virus scanning software. When surfing the internet most likely you been infected with a Trojan, virus, or some type of spyware, according to many virus detection agencies, the unprotected PC is infected on average within 20 minutes of normal internet usage. Many systems get infected every day, you must take safety measures or your system might get infected, and the virus might corrupt your data on your system. A Computer Worm is a self replicating program, the first worm to gain wide attention was the Morris Worm this infected a large number of computers and earned its writer 400 hours of community service and over $10000 in fines. When a virus infects you computer it can replicate itself, use up system resources, allow a user remote access, record keystrokes to the infected computer, it also has the ability to destroy personal data.
You must take precautions because when you download it may contain spyware, adware or viruses, spyware and adware can collect personal data, record your browsing habits and no more about you. Ad and Spyware are programs that are automatically installed on your computer.
When your computer is infected with a virus they are designed to alter your normal computer functions and spyware infections are used to spy on you, one way they do this is by recording your personal information. Many times adware, viruses and spyware find what is called a "back door" to install and replicated itself you in your computer.
Downloading may sometimes cause error on the system or the entire computer system may crash. Many spyware or viruses are downloaded when downloading software and music. Many viruses can lay dormant without you knowing this, since you don't know it is there it can attack at any moment when least expect it, it could attack when typing a report and downloading important. Whether you have learned your lesson from a past experience or not, try not to download unwanted files or open email messages sent to you by people you don't know. Many people do all of this without any real understanding of just how vulnerable they are each time they are on the internet. Try to take precautions, find reputable software and install it to protect your system. There is free software on the web that will protect your system.
About the Author
David Marc Fishman is the owner of howtopcguru.com. Protect your pc against viruses
These days it is a must to have a good, reliable virus protection program. There happens to be a many good free virus protection software packages out on the internet today. The only way to protect our pc today is using software that acts like a antidote to the disease. By using this software you can take preventive measures of stopping the disease before it infects the system.
Removable media such as cds, floppy disks, usb keys that are infected and used in another system can carry the virus and infect the other machine. If you computer is infected with a virus you will need to remove the virus as soon as possible otherwise it can infect the system completely and spread to others. If a computer is infected by a computer virus the computer needs to be scanned by virus scanning software. When surfing the internet most likely you been infected with a Trojan, virus, or some type of spyware, according to many virus detection agencies, the unprotected PC is infected on average within 20 minutes of normal internet usage. Many systems get infected every day, you must take safety measures or your system might get infected, and the virus might corrupt your data on your system. A Computer Worm is a self replicating program, the first worm to gain wide attention was the Morris Worm this infected a large number of computers and earned its writer 400 hours of community service and over $10000 in fines. When a virus infects you computer it can replicate itself, use up system resources, allow a user remote access, record keystrokes to the infected computer, it also has the ability to destroy personal data.
You must take precautions because when you download it may contain spyware, adware or viruses, spyware and adware can collect personal data, record your browsing habits and no more about you. Ad and Spyware are programs that are automatically installed on your computer.
When your computer is infected with a virus they are designed to alter your normal computer functions and spyware infections are used to spy on you, one way they do this is by recording your personal information. Many times adware, viruses and spyware find what is called a "back door" to install and replicated itself you in your computer.
Downloading may sometimes cause error on the system or the entire computer system may crash. Many spyware or viruses are downloaded when downloading software and music. Many viruses can lay dormant without you knowing this, since you don't know it is there it can attack at any moment when least expect it, it could attack when typing a report and downloading important. Whether you have learned your lesson from a past experience or not, try not to download unwanted files or open email messages sent to you by people you don't know. Many people do all of this without any real understanding of just how vulnerable they are each time they are on the internet. Try to take precautions, find reputable software and install it to protect your system. There is free software on the web that will protect your system.
About the Author
David Marc Fishman is the owner of howtopcguru.com. Protect your pc against viruses
How to Protect Your PC !!!
How to Protect your PC from Virus,worms and spyware? by William Redants
To have your PC protected against virus, spyware, adware, worms, etc. You have to take good decisions (when exploring on the internet and read your email) and to have the adequate software installed in your computer. Since you can have all the care of the world al to exploring on the internet, but if do not have the software that protect you against harmful programs your PC is going to Infect, and if in fact have the software of adequate protection but do not be careful al to exploring (whether descending suspicious software, opening email, etc.) your PC is going to infect.
To protect adequate your PC you should have three types of software that will serve you basically as three lines of defense against the attacks of harmful software, I enumerate them you subsequently:
1.- a Firewall -- This is your first line of defense, is the barrier between your computer and the other computers in network.
2.- Antivirus -- This is your second line of defense, this program is going to identify, to isolate, tortured and to destroy any file infected that manage to enter to your PC, besides carrying out periodic revisions of your hard disks, also the antivirus inspected all the new files that are descended or created in your computer, and will be on the alert by suspicious activities of virus.
3.- Anti-Spyware -- This is your third line of defense, Also regularly you should revise your computer with different programs anti-spyware of different companies, since no program by if self seems to detect all the different varieties of spyware that is found loose. The programs anti-spyware work very seemed to those of antivirus.
We see more closely the applications of protection...
THE FIREWALL little time a go, the programs of firewall were of exclusive use of the departments of Systems of the Large corporations and not for domestic users. All that change when the worms --that spread of pc with Windows to pc with Windows without interaction of the user-- infecting thousands of computers connected to internet. The worms take advantage of failures in Windows (As in Word and Outlook), but they cannot arrive at software if the computer is running a firewall appropriate configured. These Worms are stop in the bridge. And in the rare case that the PC with the firewall be infected, the firewall is going to prevent that the worm spread out. The firewall included in the service pack 2 of Windows XP offers a decent protection, but the version of FirewallGold is more easy to use and a lot more secure. FirewallGold!
ANTIVIRUS there are many good antivirus programs available .. any program antivirus that you choose, should run a complete checkup of your computer once a week, and to bring up to date the antivirus definition file (the list of known virus that your software is going to seek) several times for week. After all, the true force of a good program antivirus does not fall in the application of the client, if not in the ability of the antivirus programers to find and to put in the file of definition the new virus the more quickly possible. Here you can find a good program antivirus that is easy to use and that offers excellent protection. The Shield Pro 2007!
ANTI-SPYWARE Spyware is the headache of many and innocent users of computers. There is almost an infinite number of these damned applications, by which millions of users without being given account have installed, paralyzing its computers in the process. The majority of the spyware is difficult, if not impossible, to remove using conventional techniques. You can use a program anti-spyware or by hand to modify the registry and the files of configuration, and to erase the remainders of the spyware that spreads for all your hard disk - if you can locate it all.
Unhappily, the criminals that write spyware constantly modify its applications to do them more difficult to detect and to eliminate, so as in the applications antivirus, the programs anti-spyware depends on frequent updatings of its files of definition. We suggest you that bring up to date the definition of spyware each time that bring up to date the definition of virus, and scan your hard disks once a week.
Here you found some good antispyware program Adware Alert!!
and here you have another SPYwareRemover!
be smart and good luck
About the Author
William Redants http://www.videoonyourweb.info
To have your PC protected against virus, spyware, adware, worms, etc. You have to take good decisions (when exploring on the internet and read your email) and to have the adequate software installed in your computer. Since you can have all the care of the world al to exploring on the internet, but if do not have the software that protect you against harmful programs your PC is going to Infect, and if in fact have the software of adequate protection but do not be careful al to exploring (whether descending suspicious software, opening email, etc.) your PC is going to infect.
To protect adequate your PC you should have three types of software that will serve you basically as three lines of defense against the attacks of harmful software, I enumerate them you subsequently:
1.- a Firewall -- This is your first line of defense, is the barrier between your computer and the other computers in network.
2.- Antivirus -- This is your second line of defense, this program is going to identify, to isolate, tortured and to destroy any file infected that manage to enter to your PC, besides carrying out periodic revisions of your hard disks, also the antivirus inspected all the new files that are descended or created in your computer, and will be on the alert by suspicious activities of virus.
3.- Anti-Spyware -- This is your third line of defense, Also regularly you should revise your computer with different programs anti-spyware of different companies, since no program by if self seems to detect all the different varieties of spyware that is found loose. The programs anti-spyware work very seemed to those of antivirus.
We see more closely the applications of protection...
THE FIREWALL little time a go, the programs of firewall were of exclusive use of the departments of Systems of the Large corporations and not for domestic users. All that change when the worms --that spread of pc with Windows to pc with Windows without interaction of the user-- infecting thousands of computers connected to internet. The worms take advantage of failures in Windows (As in Word and Outlook), but they cannot arrive at software if the computer is running a firewall appropriate configured. These Worms are stop in the bridge. And in the rare case that the PC with the firewall be infected, the firewall is going to prevent that the worm spread out. The firewall included in the service pack 2 of Windows XP offers a decent protection, but the version of FirewallGold is more easy to use and a lot more secure. FirewallGold!
ANTIVIRUS there are many good antivirus programs available .. any program antivirus that you choose, should run a complete checkup of your computer once a week, and to bring up to date the antivirus definition file (the list of known virus that your software is going to seek) several times for week. After all, the true force of a good program antivirus does not fall in the application of the client, if not in the ability of the antivirus programers to find and to put in the file of definition the new virus the more quickly possible. Here you can find a good program antivirus that is easy to use and that offers excellent protection. The Shield Pro 2007!
ANTI-SPYWARE Spyware is the headache of many and innocent users of computers. There is almost an infinite number of these damned applications, by which millions of users without being given account have installed, paralyzing its computers in the process. The majority of the spyware is difficult, if not impossible, to remove using conventional techniques. You can use a program anti-spyware or by hand to modify the registry and the files of configuration, and to erase the remainders of the spyware that spreads for all your hard disk - if you can locate it all.
Unhappily, the criminals that write spyware constantly modify its applications to do them more difficult to detect and to eliminate, so as in the applications antivirus, the programs anti-spyware depends on frequent updatings of its files of definition. We suggest you that bring up to date the definition of spyware each time that bring up to date the definition of virus, and scan your hard disks once a week.
Here you found some good antispyware program Adware Alert!!
and here you have another SPYwareRemover!
be smart and good luck
About the Author
William Redants http://www.videoonyourweb.info
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