Protect Yourself

Recently my computer started acting strange. During Google searches I was being redirected to generic search sites that would seem to set off my anti-virus, but a scan of my computer didn’t reveal any virus. I found a work around but knew somewhere in my computer there was a problem. This problem showed itself in IE7, FireFox, Safari, Chrome and Opera. Yes, I use all five browsers.

In the process of clearing the problem (which I later discovered was one of the many drive-by virus/trojan on the web, a type of Alureon trojan named Kung). After three days with some help from the nice folks over at Geekstogo.com (HT sage5) I was finally able to return my computer to normal.

I had thought that my computer was pretty well protected, but after getting into the problem I found that most of the programs I used were no longer “the best”.

I previously recommended to friends the following free programs; AVG Anti-Virus, Spybot: Search & Destroy and CCleaner. All are still good programs but they aren’t the best. It seems that the malcontents and criminals on the net have way too much time on their hands.

In order to protect yourself you might consider the following advice (This information is for PC users only).

First step is to ensure you don’t have any rootkit problems is to download, save and run the following program from your desktop.

http://eric71.geekstogo.com/tools/Rooter.exe

If you are good there then you must obtain a good anti-spyware program. The following are all highly recommended programs for your protection.

• MalwareBytes Anti-Malware
• SUPERAntiSpyware
• SpywareBlaster
• SpywareGuard

Make sure you are only running one real-time anti-spyware protection program (e.g.: TeaTimer, Windows Defender) or there will be a conflict.

Some of these programs have both a free and a paid version; read before starting download.

Some good free firewalls are Online Armor, Zone Alarm, Outpost or Sunbelt Personal Firewall.

Make sure you only use one firewall though. A tutorial on understanding and using firewalls may be found here.

These programs aid you in keeping your computer free of malware, but you will have to routinely update them and scan your computer frequently. Here’s wishing you happy (web) surfing.

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Ghost Ranger, Tex’s first novel, is now available on Lulu and Amazon.

 

 

 

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