Virus, Spy-ware, Trojans! Oh, my!!

In priority order, here are the tools I use to protect any PC I own. I keep using the word "good" below because you can buy bad instances of each of these.
  1. A good Anti-Virus program whose virus definitions get updated frequently is a must. I use Trend Micro OfficeScan or Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition.
  2. A close second is a good firewall. Zone Alarm is the free one I use. Unless you're running Windows XP, which comes with its own firewall, or unless you're well protected by your specific Internet connection, I cannot imagine having a PC connected to the Internet without also running something like Zone Alarm. Ugh! That's the things nightmares are made of.
  3. Here's a TIme article on hidden spyware on your PC. They suggested running Ad-Aware, a free program from Lavasoft.
  4. To fix one's Internet Explorer home page getting hijacked, see hijackthis, also free. See For the discussion of this problem, which also has a link to Spybot.
  5. cwshredder, a tool to get rid of coolwebsearch.com hijackers.
See this especially scary story 'cause it told about a 13-year who had literally hundreds of PC worldwide, he had in his robot army that he could order to attack any target he wished. All due to a Windows vulnerability.
This page was last updated: Thursday, 11-May-2006 14:41:08 Pacific Daylight Time