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How
do I Combat the Dangerous Threats to My Computer and My Data?
This article explains
what you should do to protect yourself against viruses, worms,
Trojans, spyware and other forms of malware.
Today, security and intrusion threats include
software downloads, peer-to-peer networks (e.g., Kazaa), floppies,
CD or DVDs, emails and their attachments, chat rooms, your colleagues
on the network and the Internet in general.
How can you protect your system and your
data in the midst of so many threats to security coming from
so many different sources?
Just think, malware (malicious code) has been
around for almost 25 years already. Every year, millions of
people and businesses lose substantial sums of money in terms
of lost and, many times, irrecoverable data. To top it all,
some viruses hog system resources and Internet connections making
it impossible to work or play. And this does not include the
frustration and anger at not being able to pinpoint the source
of the problem.
This article explains what you should do to
protect yourself against viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware and
other forms of malware.
Fighting Viruses, Worms and Trojans
One of the very first steps to protecting your PC is to make
sure that the operating system (OS) is updated. This
is critical as OS manufacturers such as Microsoft Windows
update security features of their products continuously to cover
any potential and actual loopholes.
For a full explanation of viruses, Trojans and
worms and the damage that may be done to your system read Malware:
Wading through the Jargon.
Secondly you should have an updated anti-virus
software running on your system. Make sure to choose one
of the better ones on the market today - a few dollars wont
break you but a virus will. Make sure that the anti-virus
software is updated frequently (sometimes even daily if needs
be) with fixes to the actual engine and to the database files
that contain the latest cures against new viruses, worms and
Trojans. The anti-virus software must have the ability of scanning
email and files as they are downloaded from the Internet to
help prevent malware reaching your system.
Many users are using a third component for their
home and/or computer system security - processlibrary.com.
This website is a free resource library containing a comprehensive
description of over 3000 that may be running on your computer.
Searching for the processes is similar to using a search engine
- type in the process name and processlibrary.com returns the
full description including information on security threat levels
if any and ways on removing the malicious code.
You should also consider installing firewall
software. A good system prevents unauthorised use and access
to your computer from external sources (e.g. hackers or hijackers)
plus giving you additional protection against the more common
Trojans and worms. A firewall on its own will not get rid
of the virus problem but when used in conjunction
with your OS updates, anti-virus software and processlibrary.com
information, it will give you deeper system security and protection.
Fighting Spyware, Adware and Other Forms
of Malware
In some cases, it is not that easy to realise that spyware and
related forms of malware are installed on your system. For a
full explanation of spyware, adware, related forms of malware
and the damage that may be done to your system read What
are Spyware, Adware, Keyloggers, Diallers and Root Kits?.
In other cases, you will almost immediately
notice changes to your web browser that you didn't make.
These changes include toolbars that you didn't want installed,
different homepage settings or changes to your security settings
and favourites list.
Other signs of spyware include advert pop-ups
which are not related to the website being viewed at the time.
Many such adverts usually relate to pornography or emoticons
or performance/security optimizers and are not displayed as
they are usually shown on legitimate adverts. Adverts may also
appear when you are not surfing the web. Spyware is not only
annoying but it slows your system performance, causes start-up
time to increase, hogs your Internet connection and on occasion
will lead to system crashes.
You should install an anti-spyware software
package. There are some good ones on the market and many
experts go as far as suggesting installing two or three since
any single package may not be powerful enough to find all the
entries and changes to your registry and other files made by
spyware. Such malware is installed like any other application
on your system thus leaving traces of itself on the registry
files of and other places with your system. Anti-spyware
works by looking for these traces and deleting them.
Also beware of what you download from the
Internet. Make sure that the sources that you download stuff
from are know to you - and even here you have to pay extreme
attention. For example, not all companies who claim their software
contains adware are really offering adware only! There's always
the possibility that there is spyware disguised in the program.
Make sure that you read privacy policies and licence agreements.
Also firewalls should help you greatly in the fight against
spyware and malware.
Another source that helps you combat spyware
is processlibrary.com. As stated earlier, this free site
contains valuable information and suggestions on what to do
if your system is infected.
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