Fighting-off Viruses

Advancements in Antivirus Software Suites

Protecting your computer from a virus is getting harder and harder each day. While it may border on the paranoid, it goes without saying that you can’t leave your guard down for one second. Even corporate giant Microsoft has found its own systems compromised on more than one occasion.

Remember the “good old days”, before the advent of the Internet and downloadable programs? Life was simple then in terms of computer viruses. With the primary way in which a virus could be transmitted being limited to floppy disks, the ability to catch and eradicate the virus was a lot easier. By today’s standards, it used to take quite a while before a virus was able to infect a computer and slow down the system. The antivirus software of that time was typically able to identify and eradicate viruses before they caused too much damage. Additionally, computer users were pretty savvy on how to protect themselves in terms of scanning all floppy disks before copying them to our desktop.

The Internet helped change all that. The Internet provided a conduit by which viruses could move from host to host with lightening speed. No longer could a computer user just worry about floppy disks as points of entry, but they now had to worry about email, email attachments, peer-to-peer file sharing, instant messaging, and software downloads. Today’s viruses can attack through multiple entry points, spread without human intervention, and take full advantage of vulnerabilities within a system or program. With technology advancing everyday, and the convergence of computers with other mobile devices, the potential of new types of threats also increase.

Protecting Your Computer
Luckily, the advancement of antivirus software has kept pace with current virus threats. Antivirus software is essential to a computer’s ability to fend off viruses and other malicious programs. These products are designed to protect against the ability of a virus to enter a computer through email, web browsers, file servers and desktops. Additionally, these programs offer a centralized control feature that handle deployment, configuration and updating.
A computer user should remain diligent and follow a few simple steps to protect against the threat of a virus:

1. Evaluate your current computer security system.
With the threat of a new generation of viruses able to attack in a multitude of ways, the approach of having just one antivirus software version has become outdated. You need to be confident that you have protected all aspects of your computer system from the desktop to the network, and from the gateway to the server. Consider a more comprehensive security system which includes several features including antivirus, firewall, content filtering, and intrusion detection. This type of system will make it more difficult for the virus to penetrate your system.
2. Only install antivirus software created by a well-known, reputable company.
Because new viruses erupt daily, it is important that you regularly update your antivirus software. Become familiar with the software’s real-time scan feature and configure it to start automatically each time you boot your computer. This will protect your system by automatically checking your computer each time it is powered up.
3. Make it a habit to always scan all new programs or files no matter from where they originate.
4. Exercise caution when opening binary, Word, or Excel documents of unknown sources especially if they were received during an online chat or as an attachment to an email.
5. Perform regular backups in case your system is corrupted. It may be the only way to recover your data if infected.

Recommended Antivirus Software
There are numerous applications available to consumers. With a little research, you can pick the program that is right for you. Many programs provide a trial version which allows you to download the program and test its abilities. However, be aware that some anti-virus programs can be difficult to uninstall. As a precaution make sure to set up a System Restore point before installing.

Here are a few programs which typically receive high marks in terms of cost, effectiveness, ease of use, and customer service.

The Shield Pro 2005 provides virus protection and hacker security through ongoing support and updates. When a virus breaks out, The Shield Pro 2005™ promises to provide a patch within 2-3 hours and a fix for the virus within 5 hours. You can set your computer to update viruses weekly and run a complete virus scan.

BitDefender 9 Standard provides antivirus protection, as well as Peer-2-Peer Applications protection, full email protection, and heuristics in a virtual environment. This provides a new security layer that keeps the operating system safe from unknown viruses by detecting malicious pieces of code for which signatures have not been released yet.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal 5.0 program is simple to install and use. The user only needs to choose from three levels of protection. It allows updates as frequently as every hour while promising not to disrupt your computer. The program also offers a two-tier email protection feature and round-the-clock technical support.

PC-cillin Internet Security combines antivirus security and a personal firewall—for comprehensive protection against viruses, worms, Trojans, and hackers. It also detects and removes spyware and blocks spam. It even guards against identity theft by blocking phishing and pharming attacks.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is a free downloadable antivirus program that has received high marks for its reliability. In the past, free downloadable antivirus programs have been viewed skeptically because of issues relating to its reliability. However, AVG from Grisoft, remains one of the best-known free anti-virus programs available. While AVG can not be installed on a server operating system and there is no technical support, it still makes a good choice for many home computer users. The best part is that since it is free, you can try it with no further obligation necessary.

Get Rid of Spyware

Spywares are not only a bother but also harm your computer software and sometimes can even attack your hardware too. These annoying bugs have become a threat to browsers on a global scale. They have become such a commonplace that sometimes we don't just pay any attention to them.

Spyware snoops on everythign you do online from your internet surfing, usage and even can go so far as collecting your personal financial information. If the spyware has entered your computer it will be like a person looking over your shoulder while you enter password into your online payment accounts or your online bank accounts.

While a physically present person may not be able to remember the keystrokes as you input the password because it is shown in asterisks ******* but the spyware uses the keylogger technology to monitor the exact words you are typing into the computer.

This ability of the spyware is enough to demonstrate what it can do to you and your personal finances and safety. With this information it can wipe out your bank accounts, use your credit cards to run up whopping amount of debt lending you into financial problems. Moreover, when you cant pay the bills of some cyber thief, your credit rating is sure to suffer and make you unable to get credit or run your business.

By spying on the sites you normally visit, the spyware will collect your surfing information which it will sell to unscruplous advertisers who will send un-invited pages to your browsers. Naturally these pages will be of those products and services in which you are interested. This is a forced entry into your cyber world.

Because spyware is such a pain you need to scan your computer for any such intrusions and destroy them as soon as possible. For this use a good anti-spyware.

Here are some suggested anti-spyware solutions:

Ad Aware and Active Shield are popular softwares which are used extensively.

Ad Aware offers advanced protection against Data-mining, Parasites, aggressive advertising, Scumware and some traditional viruses and tracking systems like Trojans, Dialers, Malware and Browser hijackers. Active Shield on the other hand targets trojans and spyware.

The Vast Options In Free Security Downloads

By Mike Selvon

Until the last few years, people who wanted or needed to find free security downloads to help protect their computers from various threats found that they had very few options. Many times the free internet security software programs that were being offered came from software publishers that were new and had not built a reputation or they were even from anonymous programmers. This left the door open for introducing new online threats to a computer in the form of these downloads from unknown and unproven companies.

Because of this, people needed to spend a great deal of time researching their different options in downloadable internet security systems. The research often entailed reading reviews and pouring through forums that discussed the latest online threats and the software programs that were available to combat these threats. The biggest problem was that most people who were looking to protect their home computer systems quickly ran out of patience or were overwhelmed with the vast amounts of information, much of which often conflicted, making matters even worse.

Fortunately, when Google came along and introduced a set of software called the "Google Pack," many of these issues were resolved, and quite well. The Google Pack consists of about a dozen applications that are all free and this collection includes two internet security downloads for PCs, helping people better protect their computers from the ongoing internet threats.

The two internet safety programs that are now included in the Google Pack are two of the best downloads on the market for protecting personal computers from internet threats; the Spyware Doctor Starter Edition and the Norton Anti-virus software. These are both high quality products from well-known and trusted names in the internet security protection industry. The only thing that is missing from these free downloads from Google, which would make this a very complete and comprehensive solution, is a firewall.

It is somewhat of a mystery as to why Google chose not to include a firewall application with their Google Pack, but there seems to be a variety of possible reasons why. One factor is that in most cases, the broadband routers that are increasingly being used already include a good quality firewall built right into the hardware, making firewall software unnecessary. In addition, Microsoft began including a firewall application as part of Windows XP SP2.

However, it needs to be noted that the firewall that comes installed with Windows is not considered to be the best solution, as it does not have any monitoring function to oversee the outgoing traffic from a computer to the internet. One of the most highly recommended firewall applications is the Zonealarm Internet Security Software package, which is free and is robust enough for home computer systems.

Combined with the Google Pack, this gives computer users the full security suite that they should have on their computers today to safeguard them from the many threats and risks that are commonplace. The fact that these programs are free and from reliable software publishers means that you can choose PC security downloads to use, with confidence.

Mike Selvon has some informative articles for the creative mind. Find out more about free security downloads at his resourceful site. We appreciate your feedback at our internet safety rules blog.