Survival on the Internet
Connecting your Windows pc to the internet, particularly with broadband and cable connections, makes you a prime target for viruses and spyware. To limit your risks you need to do the following:-
Use an anti-virus package like AVG, McAfee or Norton.
Use a firewall, as in Windows XP Service Pack 2, or applications like Zone Alarm, McAfee, Norton and others.
Use a spyware/adware application like Ad-aware, Spybot and others
Try another browser . I recommend Mozilla Firefox, which is a free download from http://www.mozilla.org and ensure that the popup blocker is on.
In addition I recommend that you don't do the following:-
Use any kind of peer to peer networking product like Kazaa, Limewire or WinMX.
Click the OK or YES button on a window that promises to increase your web access speed or any other suspicious proposal, which is likely to open the door to problems.
Install proprietary search bars or toolbars from Google, Yahoo or anyone else. You don't need them and often you can't get rid of them later.
Respond to unsolicited junk email. You will probably get more junk email as a result.
Visit 'dodgy' web sites - say no more, nudge,
Virus Protection
If all of the above sounds like too much hassle, and for many average users it is, then click on the Linux link and consider the only real alternative.Computer viruses are small programs capable of replicating themselves. This is usually achieved by concealing themselves inside a host program in such a way that the virus is executed every time the host program is run. When the virus program runs it may choose another un-infected host to attach itself to. Thus the virus spreads and rapidly infects all the programs on the system. Some viruses are written in such a fashion as to cause data corruption, file deletion, disk and memory errors, phantom keystrokes, etc.
These simple guidelines will protect your computer from the fear of viruses:
1. Buy a good virus-scanning program and keep it updated. New Viruses are being created all the time so the scanning software must be frequently updated.
2. Scan your system regularly after loading new software or data from another computer.
3. If you use the Internet there is a chance of virus infection. Always
scan your system after surfing.
4. Email attachments can also contain viruses. Scan attachments before
opening.
5. Be especially careful of public domain software, so-called "shareware" or "freeware".
For specific problems email me at sphiwam@yahoo.co.uk