Security

Anti-Spyware

Anti spyware and anti virus protection is a, “must have,” for your security.

Spyware is what it says it is. It is an insidious piece of code that is installed on your computer via free software, toolbars, free smiley downloads, free animated pointers, email program add-ons and, greetings cards, and the list is virtually endless. Stealing information from your computer is big business.
Emails, is another way of transporting Viruses.

Personally I never open an email that I do not know who sent it. If I do not recognize the name of the person or company that sent the email, then I delete it without opening it. See white lists for the, "do it yourself version," or, you can down load a piece of softwar called, Mail Washer.

Mail Washer accesses your emails on the server, this allows you to read, delete and black list any emails that you do not want, without having to down load unwanted or suspicious/malicious emails to your computer; that may contain viruses etc. By creating your own black list, in Mail Washer you will also cut down on the amount of SPAM that you recieve.

Initially there was a clear distinction between Viruses and spyware. Anti Virus dealt with Viruses, worms, etc, and anti spyware dealt with spyware ad ware, key loggers, etc. This clear distinction has now largely disappeared and the defining line has become blurred.

There are some excellent products that have been developed to overcome the problem and protect your security and your computer system whilst you are on line. Some are free, contribution based and some you have to buy.

Zone Alarm security suite, AVG (Grisoft) Ad-Aware (Lavasoft), MacAfee, Norton,(Symantec) and spybot supply strong products to protect your computer.

I use multi-layered protection and use 5 different products.

I schedule them to run at night to check my computer for Viruses and Spyware so that when they are checking my machine, they do not affect the efficiency of my computer.
I also use a program called, “SpywareBlaster,” it does not actively seek out viruses and spyware as do the others, it just blocks known viruses and spyware. And while you are on the page down load, EULAlyzer 1.2 and check the End User Licenses / Terms & Conditions before you click the, I accept button.

It is very important that you up-date your protection soft ware at least once a week.

You can also check out Steve Gibons web site and use the facilities to check out your security, and have a look at, “Shields up,” and test your computer with the, “Leak test,”.

Which one is best for you? That is for you to decide, the ones that I have mentioned on this page are all good in their own way, and each has its own advantage over the others as they are all constantly writing new and better protection. However this does not imply that there are not others out there that are just as good.