We use computers for our personal needs, sometimes for entertainment and others may use it for business reasons. But there comes a point and time where you will have to have security and privacy. If you are connected to the internet, and you do not have a firewall enabled, you can become infected with the Blaster worm within 60 seconds. That's how dangerously worms are floating around the internet. And for this reason you need to have security software. I recommend the following: A firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, and a safe web browser. For a firewall I highly recommend "Zone Alarm" this free firewall is by far the absolute best you will find, others may argue comodo, kerio, or agnitum are better. In my opinion Zone Alarm is better in many ways, it's automatically configured to stealthly hide your ports from the internet, and is better configured. If you're not so serious then the built in firewall "Windows Firewall" is a good alternative.

As far as Anti-Virus is concerned, I recommend "AVG" from Grisoft. It is a free non intrusive anti-virus that is just as good as norton or anything else you will purchase but will not "bogg" down your system. With anti-spyware there are a number of great choices. ..1 I would recommend "Windows Defender" above all, but the others are "Ad-Aware" and "SpyBot". If you're willing to spend money then "Spy Sweeper" from Webroot is extremely well built and is the absolute best of the best as far as it catching a very high percentage of spyware. Besides using a firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware, you will need to have a safe web browser.

I highly suggest you to use Mozilla FireFox. It's popularity is skyrocketting and is the safest web browser(and easiest) to use. Web browsers I do not recommend are Internet Explorer, AOL's browser, or anything else that allows ActiveX scripting. If you use a web browser that allows ActiveX then somebody can put a malicious script on a website, have you visit that site(perhaps accidentally by even a popup or social engineering), and it will download the scripting onto your computer "without" your knowledge. From there, they can track what websites you go on, display popup ads, or even capture your passwords. This is what is called "Spyware". And it is how most users get infected besides downloading malicious content.

ALL of your security software should be configured to automatically search and download for updates, and many already are. Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D will search for updates atuoamatically. Ad-Aware will search within a longer period, I would recommend setting it to 7 days to wait until searching for updates. Ad-Aware does not run in the background, which means you will need to launch it in order for it to apply the needed definitions.



ALL of your security software(besides your firewall) needs to be set to scan automatically. The reason for this is mainly for convenience, if you run your computer all day and go off and on at your pleasure, then setting the software to automatically scan at a given time of the day is essential. It will scan, and quarantine anything malicious it picks up and be finished by the time you return to your PC. Make sure to schedule it for a time when you might think the computer may not be in use(eg. early in the morning or during the afternoon).What does it mean to "quarantine" something?

Ad-Aware, SpyBot S&D, SpySweeper, AVG and all security software(besides firewalls obviously) have what is called a "quarantine archive". When a file or object is placed into the "quarantine archive" it can no longer be used and it cannot function AT ALL. In this case, a malicious file of some sort. Say a scanner tracks the origin of spyware to a file, it will take it and quarantine it, and it then will no longer be able to operate anymore. If it gets removed from quarantine, then there is a chance of it still spying on your activity.



Norton Anti-Virus: BAD! Avoid at all possible costs. Sure, Norton Anti-Virus is very good at catching viruses, and spyware, and stopping popup ads, and blocking ad-ware, but come to think of how that is bogging down your system. Norton anti-virus will run your system down and eat up your processes. Many who advertise an anti-virus, anti-spyware/adware, popup blocker, and built in firewall should all be avoided.



Why? ..1 There is no need to block popup ads because our safe browser that we have been discussing, Mozilla Firefox, does not allow popup ads. AT ALL. Most popup ads are from a website to website basis. Many users get popups unexpectedly, that is what is called adware. Companies are trying to advertise to you their products, after tracking what you surf for. Then they can even spam your email according to what you may have searched for, shopped for, or bought online. AVG is just as good as norton but no as intrusive, constantly bothering you like norton does and running your system down to less than that of a snail. Ad-Aware, Spybot, as well as Windows Defender will be adequate enough to stop about 99% of all spyware you will come across. SpySweeper still sits high above the rest when it comes to catching most of what you will be infected with. Ofcourse, the best defense to stopping spyware and viruses is to not get infected to begin with.

Next article we will cover actual "Privacy" software and discuss what type of habits we should change inorder to stop getting infected with malware. We are also going to bring up the two topics which include: Protecting your privacy and being able to safely and permanently deleting files...military grade style.