Identity theft, viruses, phishers, key-loggers, zombies, spam and more. There are some important things that anyone using a PC can and should do to protect themselves. The text is below, the links are on the links page. Starting on the outside and working in:
Resources. There are probably many good resources. Three of the best:
- Brian Livingstons’s WindowsSecrets.com newsletter which is well-written and full of good stuff. Subscribe. Worth it.
- Eric Howes’ site on privacy and security and his independent review of anti-spyware tools.
- Steve Gibson’s Gibson Research site. Steve’s SpinRite has recovered data I thought was lost forever.
Note: There are no affiliate ties to these links (i.e., I don’t get a commission if you buy after following them) and I make no claims in their behalf regarding their use or merchantability. This is simply a list of what I use and why I use it…my work is web-connected and I need a secure, reliable computer. Period.
Firewalls. I used to think a really good software firewall was enough. Not any more. You need both software and hardware. Livingston and Howes will explain. I’ve been using the NOD32 software firewall from Eset for years and it has saved my butt countless times. It is fun to read the hit logs to see who is trying to gain access to your computer. I also put in a piece of hardware that is both router and hardware firewall. Yeah, I know…belt and suspenders.
Anti-virus. There are several good antivirus programs. I was an early Norton user but I became unhappy with what I felt was less-than-adequate protection and their subscription “activation” policies so now, after turning off ZoneAlarm’s antivirus, I use Eset’s NOD32 anti-virus. So far it has been flawless. They also have a rootkit detector.
It is probably worth mentioning, in regard to viruses and related software attacks, that one of the weakest links in the collection of hardware and software we use is the Microsoft browser, Internet Explorer which is built into the Windows operating system. After years of frustration I switched to the release version of Mozilla’s browser, FireFox. Let’s just put it this way: Microsoft has known unpatched exploits…some still unpatched well over a year after discovery while Mozilla exploits are usually fixed within hours or days. There are some exploits Microsoft can’t fix because MSIE is built into the operating system.
Anti-spam. My email reader is Google’s Gmail. I have almost no spam…one or two a week that get through…although I can look in the “spam” folder and see 10,000 or so at any moment. Gmail holds your spam for 30 days just in case someone’s email to you got misidentified as spam. Sometimes I “browse” the spam folder to see what’s on the spammers’ minds…if anything.
Gmail has all the features I want except one. I’d like to be able to sync a contact manager to it the way you can with, say, ACT! and Microsoft’s email client, Outlook. Gmail is simple and easy to use and I have all my other email accounts pointing to it. Everything shows up right there and, if I want, Gmail will send replies so it appears it is coming from my other email addresses. This is nice when, for instance, I reply to a listserve I belong to that requires I use one of my other email accounts. Just use the drop-down to select which mail account you want Gmail to use when responding to this message. Can’t say enough for it. The good professor, Dr. Edward Strong, calculated recently that he will hit his Gmail storage limit in seven years. That’s a whole technical world away, so I’m not sweating it.
Anti-spyware and ad-ware. Lots of devious programs try to spy on your web travels or capture your keystrokes and gain access to your passwords and account information. Others try to steer you to their clients’ sites when you want to visit a web business site by using pop-ups and pop-overs and redirections. I use Malwarebytes from Malwarebytes.com and Eset Smart Security from Eset. The programs are set to update the database daily. I scan automatically once a day and, knock wood, my machine is clean and fast. NOTE: Eset should always be running as your anti-virus, email protection and firewall. Malwarebytes, if you leave it running, will hog your computer memory overhead and slow things down so I fire it up once a week, update the database, let it scan over night (I have several drives) and shut it down after it reports.
Conclusion. My computers are on 24/7 via DLS connections. I depend on my computers for my business and writing activities. I am sufficiently involved in the technology to be aware of what’s going on and while there is always a tiny thread of anxiety in the back of my mind regarding these very talented Internet terrorists and what might be coming next, I am able to report that I’m very happy with the general state of security this package of software and procedures has provided me. Final note: Several writers for Windows Secrets report that Windows 7 has a workable anti-virus and firewall so, as a bare minimum, use it…but think about getting a top-rated security suite after checking in the security baseline article of Windows Secrets.
