Computer Protection

This is a too often neglected aspect of computing, at least from an end user point of view. I usually find that people don't care about computer protection because of the time and money required to have good protection. Also, a lot of the good software is so complex that no one knows what its doing anyways, so they just stay away from using it at all. On ALL of my computers, (Yes, all. This is the set of applications I use on all 3 of my current machines, 2 of which stay running pretty much 24/7 and have not had a virus in over a year) I use software that is simple to maintain, easy to understand, powerful against intrusion, and most importantly of all: FREE. None of this software requires the user to purchase anything, basically because the companies are nice. Each piece of this software deals with different aspects of computer security.

Viruses from all angles

Solution: Avast Antivirus

These are perhaps the best publicized threat to computers today. Nearly everyone who owns a computer knows the word virus and knows that they are BAD TO HAVE. Trouble is, people think viruses only come from e-mail most of the time. This is WRONG. Viruses can come through e-mail, but they can also come from instant messaging, file sharing, internet sites, attacks, etc. Basically, any traffic not within your computer could potentially contain viruses. The problem with virus scanners is that they don't protect against viruses, they only find them and destroy them. Problem is, they're already on your computer when you try to find them, which means they could have already done their dirty work. The solution? always-on protection. If everything coming into your computer is scanner, there is a drastically reduced chance of problems, because they are stopped before there even is a problem. To do this, I use Avast Home Edition, found here. It, like most, has a virus scanning utility, virus protection chest, detection algorithms for new viruses, etc. But what puts this above all the rest is its on-access protection. Every aspect of network communication is covered. From LAN connections to P2P networks, everything is scanner. In addition, It updates itself, so your protection is always current, even when you aren't on the computer. To obtain a lisence, all you need to do is give them an e-mail address and they mail you a free key that's good for one year, then you can renew it every year as long as you want, all for free. I recommend this over McAfee and Norton every time. It's unobtrusive and computationally inexpensive, and I highly recommend it to anyone needing a quick, powerful solution.

Software that's more than you bargained for

Solution: Ad-Aware

Sometimes software online looks like a good deal. Take Weatherbug for example. A program that automatically detects what zip code you live in and gives you weather forecasts based on that area. What they don't tell you is that along with you getting convienient weather data, they are getting your data. The bug looks at what websites you view at what times and what area you're in and sends that information back to where it is sold to marketing companies who use it to target advertising. All of this communication takes your bandwidth as well as your information, all without you knowing. How are you supposed to know all of this? all of these plug ins and extensions are a lot of data to remember. What is needed is a way to detect these malicious programs for you. Enter Ad-Aware. It checks both the file system (My Computer) and the registry (where your computer keeps track of whats installed on it) for any record of bad programs. When it finds one that has been designated as "Spyware", it tells you and removes it if you wish. It has updates pretty much daily, but with this and Avast running, you should be alright with a scan a week (Yes, you have to run a scanner with this) to keep your computer clean. If your computer and internet connection are acting slow, this will most likely fix it the best. It cleans up the unneeded programs that your computer was running before and clears up the badwidth used by the data gatherers. Ad-Aware is basically free for life without registration, but it would be nice to give the guys doing this a little bit of cash if you're impressed.

Data miners and bots
Solution: Spybot Search & Destroy

Ok, we know now that there's software that you can put on your computer that makes it act slowly. There is also software out there that installs itself on your computer without you knowing. These give you nothing good at all, they just look at what you're doing and transmit that data back to wherever it is the bot was told to transmit. How can you fight something that you don't even know is on there in the first place? You need to search and destroy. Thats where Spybot comes in. It checks your entire registry for any malicious entries, tells you about them and smashes them into virtual pieces. It also does someting called immunization where it prevents malicious software from even putting itself into your registry. It's a little bit harder to work with than Ad-Aware, but it's powerful and it fixes a lot of problems that the other two can miss. Updates are frequent, and I recommend a scan a week with full updates and immuniations. With this, very little can get through to do any real harm to your computer. Spybot is designed and maintained by voulenteers, so please help out with a little donation if you plan to use it for awhile.