Are you at risk when you are online? A loud YES!!! I have received viruses through regular email as well as web mail, like Yahoo. I have gotten Parasites from normal sites, and so have family members on their computers. Some firewall programs show how often you get "attacked" and it can be an amazing amount of times! And I do NOT like companies knowing where I surf!!!

Practice safe hex! LOL

If you are a Windows user, check for critical updates and patches by going to Microsoft's Windows Updates section. Not everything is needed - most people don't need .NET or the virtual stuff or 3 dozen language modules! Skip what you don't need, and grab anything else.

Hackers have gotten so darn smart, it really pays to be proactive when it comes to protecting your computer and the data on it. Now, I know everyone is going to have their favorite programs. Besides my favorites, I will try to list some of the more popular ones, too. And as many freebies as I can find and have tested! :-) If you have or know of a great program, let me know about it so I can list it here! I have also been asked if there is one program that covers all the problems, and I have to say I haven't found one yet. So PLEASE let me know if you know of any programs that combine several features or all features!!!!

Folks, I am NOT an expert on security! All of these sites have wonderful information pages on just about anything you want to know about protecting your computer. Each company has their own terms and methods, so it is difficult for me to figure out exactly what is covered or not covered. Go there - don't ask me! LOL

Also, don't forget that your program is only as good as the current update! So make sure you check for updates frequently and scan frequently. There is a Task Scheduler built into Windows - use it!

Note to AOL users: AOL seems to have some incompatibility problems, and I've noted that where found. Also, the online scans may not work unless you go to them using Internet Explorer as your browser, rather than AOL's browser.

Also Note: The highest risk area for the average or newbie user, to me, are Parasites. Almost all users have an antivirus and scan their emails, I hope! So read the Parasites section or:

• Go to the and.doxdesk.com link and check your computer while online.

  First line of defense:

• download, update and then run SpywareBlaster - this protects your computer from future attacks by known Parasites

  Second line of defense:

• download, update and then run SpyBot Search & Destroy in the Spyware section - this will scan your computer for Parasites, spyware and adware.
• download, update and then run Ad-Aware in the Spyware section - this will scan your computer for Parasites, spyware and adware.

While those programs are similar, they are not the same, and will find different problems in different ways. Using all 3 of these programs should protect you from the majority of known offenders!

After getting your system cleaned, please do a normal restart (Start | Shutdown | Restart). If for some reason your system were to crash, all that work would probably be undone. This is just a good maintenance habit to get into.

Programs that cover more than one area of problems. No freebies, though! :( Suites are usually on the expensive side for home users, or are configured for businesses using servers, so you may have to assemble protection from a variety of the products, rather than one of these.

McAfee Security Suite - Covers viruses, trojans, firewall security, spyware, parental controls, cookie blocker, ad blocker, can monitor chats for inappropriate activity or language, set time restrictions for children. Can't determine if it scans email or if it protects against adware, spyware, or malicious Active X coding.

Norton Internet Security - Covers viruses, trojans, firewall security, spam blocker, ad blocker, popup blocker, email and Instant Message protection, parental controls. Protects against malicious Active X coding. I emailed Symantec, and they said that this suite does NOT protect against adware and spyware. So, I would still recommend using Spyware Blaster and Spybot Search & Destroy.

You need to find an antivirus program that is compatible with your system. Most of these links will just be to company sites, as the versions change frequently, and you need to read the specifications. Most of you will already have an antivirus program pre-installed on your computer, if you are lucky. However, after one year, usually, the update service runs out, and you either have to pay to upgrade, get updates, or find a freebie.

AVG Antivirus - free! I just started using this one, and it seems to be very good. I like free, so I hope this is a good one! :-) Scans the boot sector. Doesn't really say it protects against trojans, so an additional trojan program should be used.

McAfee Antivirus - Doesn't say how long the trial is, but figure probably 30 days, then expires unless purchased. This is the antivirus that most computer companies seem to install on new computers. I liked it, too, but had a very difficult time getting valid updates, so I went back to Norton. Virus Scan Online is a subscription service that provides standard antivirus protection. Virus Scan 7.0 does the basic, plus includes a firewall so it protects against trojans/hackers.

Norton Antivirus - 30 day trial available, then must be purchased. A very good program. I've used it for years, and have never had a virus "explode" on my computer. Includes email checking and trojan protection, too! Easy to get updates, for one year, when product is purchased. I did find that this program caused the dreaded Blue Screen of Death when I would initiate WinMX, a file sharing program. I want WinMX more, so I have switched to AVG. :-)

Update - March 19, 2003 - My brother reported that Norton caught "malicious coding" in progress, and shut down his computer to protect him. When he brought his computer back up, everything was fine! Kewl! :-)

PC-Cillin - has a 30 day trial version. I haven't tried this one, but I am very impressed with their online scanning service (see below) and feel this would be a really good one. Besides basic antivirus protection, it scans email (even Hotmail and Yahoo!), protects against trojans, hackers, parental controls, even wireless protection!

Tauscan - will scan your system for trojans, which are not always located by antivirus or firewall programs. The link takes you to the website where you can click on the product for more information. Trojans are programs run by hackers that sneak in the back door of your computer, looking for passwords, codes, programs it wants, etc. Hackers can watch everything you do and can delete files from your system - while you watch helplessly. There is a trial version, but I don't know how long it lasts.

Firewalls prevent hackers from accessing your computer and protect information on your computer from going back out to the Internet, unless you authorize it. If you use cable, DSL or some other internet service that leaves you online 24/7, you are very prone to attack by hackers, since your ports are "open" all the time. This doesn't mean that people with dial-up service are safe, just less vulnerable. But you are still vulnerable! The programs I've tried have worked similarly, in that when data tries to leave your computer, you get a popup asking if it's okay, and the option to approve, deny once, deny forever and/or set rules.

McAfee Firewall -no time specified, but probably a 30 day trial which expires unless purchased.

Norton Firewall - I tried the trial on this one, but didn't care for it. I don't remember why, though, as it was quite a while ago.

Outpost Personal Firewall - free, but no tech support. The link takes you to the website where you can click on the product for more information. Besides being a firewall, it has a stealth mode to hide you from hackers, can scan email attachments for viruses, can block untrusted sites (download the BlockPost plug-in), acts as a Nanny for your children by filtering out unwanted content when you enter objectionable words, and runs right from the get-go. I like this one so far! However, this does not seem to be compatible with AOL. If you run into problems, try PortICE below. It has less features but will still give you basic firewall protection.

PortICE - free! A basic firewall. Seemed to work well, but other programs have more features.

Sygate Personal Firewall - free for personal use. I really liked this program! However, I found out that it is not compatible with Windows98 when used in conjunction with Norton System Works. :(

There are several links for this product, so I have just given the download page link. Also, make sure you are NOT downloading the Pro version, unless you intend to pay for it after 30 days, as it expires. The regular one is free and does not expire, when installed for personal use.

Zone Alarm - free for personal use! I have tried this puppy twice now, and I can't stand it, can't understand it, and it won't let me see certain sites. Why I can't get it to configure, I don't know. Many people love this one and swear by it, though! Very highly rated by the computer magazines, too.

This is a new term for me, but not the damage! Eight times, my family's or my computer has been invaded by Parasite programs. One was from the CometCursors website, a legitimate website to get cursors from but apparently is a front for spammers/advertisers. :-(

It put telephone dialers, cursors, and a whole boatload of links on my system! I didn't authorize it, but in a way, I did, because of the way ActiveX permissions are set on my computer. Some other examples are popups that appear when you are offline, porn dialers, links, toolbars you didn't download, home page hijacking, all sorts of shenanigans that you can't explain. Antivirus and trojan programs don't find them because they are not trojans or viruses, but they can still be malicious, as well as embarrassing!

Turning off ActiveX permissions means that almost every Yahoo page tells me there is ActiveX programming on that page and do I want to view it? I finally gave up and reset the permissions. Sometimes it's hard to protect yourself when there are valid reasons to have ActiveX active. :-( Another example is electronic greeting cards, like from Yahoo!, Hallmark or OhMyGoodness - you can't see them without Active X running.

But then a friend pointed the way to several great links to help this situation. Thanks, Michael!

Some programs which are notorious for Parasites are file sharing programs like Kazaa, Grokster, Limewire, and many others. Kazaa will even use your computer to run their program - and you authorized that when you signed up! BTW, if you do file sharing, I recommend WinMX, as it is free, and contains no spyware or adware. ;-)

So far, on 3 computers (mine, my sister's and my brother's), we've been hit by 8 Parasites, and either cleaned them manually or used these programs to get rid of them.

SpywareBlaster - Free! As soon as you download and install this product, get the update. Then you can run the program. This program kills known malicious ActiveX Parasites before it hits your computer! Hallelujah!

and.doxdesk.com - free online scanner for many Parasites. While the page loads and is inspecting your system, you can read about Parasites and scan down the list to see if anything looks familiar to you. The results appear at the top of the page once completed. If you are on AOL, you may need to use Internet Explorer to go here, rather than AOL's browser.

Also see SpyBot Search & Destroy in the next section - it also finds Parasites!

If you like using shareware or make-money programs, you will have noticed that many programs are "free" because they are advertiser-supported. While this works great for both you and the author, some programs report back your surfing habits and a lot of personal information! That program you liked suddenly doesn't look so good anymore, huh?

SpyChecker - This is an online checker where you can enter the name of a program you want to try and see if this place knows if it has spyware, adware, or malware (Parasites). Kewl!

Ad-Aware - free for personal use! Will scan your system for advertisers and spyware that doesn't need to be there - unless you want them. Gator and Bonzi Buddy are two good examples. Gator is a program that will remember your login names and passwords, and store your address and other data that makes it super easy to fill out forms. Bonzi Buddy is a cute desktop toy that talks to you and entertains you, while gathering personal data on you. You may like those programs, so it's up to you. I'd rather not let anyone know what my activities are online, or gather personal data about me. This link is for the "about" page. You can then click on the Download link. Once you've downloaded and installed the program, check for an update right away, before running the scan.

SpyBot Search & Destroy - donateware. The program is free, but the author requests that if you like the program, please help him to defray some of the costs of keeping it updated! This program will search for spyware (and parasites and other "malware", too!) on your computer and destroy it! Kewl! I have manually deleted these items and it is a lengthy process, so to find a program to do it for you is awesome! Once you have reviewed the program's "about" page, you can click on the Download link on that page. Once you have downloaded and installed the program, get any updates before running the scan.

This program also shows user usage, which means there are programs that make logs when you open them or use them. Most of the time, it is harmless, like opening Word or Excel. You can Exclude these under the Usage Tab, so you get a "cleaner" cleaning. :-)

Note: Both of the above are free. If you can, run both! I feel SpyBot may be the stronger of the two, but it shouldn't hurt to run both.

Counter Exploitation - an informational site on many of the bad advertisers and spywares. Knowledge is power! If you have something unusual on your system that you can't identify, check here. Also, don't be afraid to use the search engines to find keywords on that unusual situation - sometimes you find out that it is NOT something you want!

Have your system scanned while you surf! It will slow down your surfing, but if you can't afford to buy a professional program, or just want some peace of mind, this is a great way to go! Also, when my brother's computer got hit by a virus, the virus was so smart, it not only corrupted his antivirus program, but it wouldn't let him reinstall it! The PC-Cillin scanning place helped two people I know by finding and cleaning their computers, when nothing else worked.

Norton Scanning - or, from Symantec's home page, go to Security Response and find the link for Online Scanning there, too. Free online scanning. Checks for viruses AND Trojans. There is also another link on the same page for security risks, to see if hackers can get into your computer.

McAfee Free Scan - scan your computer online for viruses for free.

PC-Cillin Housecall - this will install a small application on your computer, then you can do free online scanning for viruses and trojans, then help you clean your system if anything is found. Excellent!

These scanning services will check your system to see how vulnerable it is to attacks. I passed the Stealth test thanks to Outpost's firewall and my sister's passed using Sygate's firewall! The other tests seemed fairly secure, but varied by site, so I can't swear how accurate these scans are.

Shields Up - This was a more "techie" site. It found an "open port" that any cracker/hacker could use to enter my computer, then gave instructions on how to set the computer settings to close the open ports, plus make the ports invisible. I did it, rebooted, and went back and got a clean bill of health. The "open port" issue is mainly for people with individual PC's, not networks or families with networked computers.

S.O.S - Sygate Online Services. Has 5 scans you can test your system for. The first two are quickies, less than a minute. The others can take 15 minutes or more each. Felt like I was getting a sales pitch, though, which is normal, because of what you are doing.

Symantec Security Check - Felt like I was getting a sales pitch, though, which is normal, because of what you are doing.

WindowWasher - This program will clean up cookies, the Document, Run, and Find/Search histories, Temp files, the Recycle Bin, and on your browser it will clean the cache, address bar and other sections you don't want people looking at to see where you surfed. If you use sensitive data, you can set it to "bleach" the things it cleans up, which means not just deleting them, but overwriting them several times so it can NEVER be retrieved. You can set it to save the good cookies for your favorite sites, if you want. Not free, unfortunately, but it does have a 30-day free trial.

MailWasher - Great program! This is a middleman program, between you and your email service (like Outlook and Outlook Express. If you use a different email program, check the site). It downloads the subject lines of your email and who it's from, giving you the opportunity to get rid of potentially dangerous emails containing viruses, or just get rid of the friggin' spam! Another donateware product. If you like it and find it useful, the author requests a donation of $3 or more to help defray costs.

Even though this is an added step to checking my email, what I REALLY liked about this program is that it not only deleted spam, but I can also tell it to bounce the email back to the sender (although that probably is useless, it makes you feel SO good - insert wicked evil grin here! LOL) and it will also blacklist if I tell it to.

Pop Ups - we all hate 'em, right? Here's a link to a page with a bunch of FREE pop up programs: Pop Up Blockers - Freeware

• Pop Up Stopper - terrific FREE program that kills popups! I like and use this one. For 98, ME, XP, NT, 2000.

• EMS Free Surfer mk II ~ This is the freeware version for IE 5.0 and above, for 98, ME, XP, and 2000 but not NT. A friend of mine is recommending this one over my choice above. He feels there is more versatility, plus it catches more pop ups.

• If you can see the body of an email as soon as you open your email program, you are leaving yourself open to activating a virus automatically. Check through the Settings, Options, or Preferences and see if you can turn off the "Preview" option, so when you open your email program, what you see are the subject lines, not an opened email.

• Any good antivirus program allows you to scan individual files. For instance, say someone sends you a funny.exe in an email. If you don't know if your AV program automatically scans emails for viruses, run the scan (try right-clicking on the .exe and look for a "Scan with ___" comment) before you run the program. Play safe! Check everything, even from people you know, because sometimes viruses are sent from your friends or spoof their addresses without their knowledge!

• If you check a zipped file, then open it to find more zipped files, you will need to scan those and any others, as most antivirus programs only scan the first level.

• If you want to click on a link in an email, hover over the link first and see if it shows the actual domain name of the place you are being sent. Be very wary of domains that are just numbers, like 201.000.000.000. This is a very common scam!

• NEVER respond to an email asking for personal information like account numbers, passwords, mother's maiden name, etc. This is another common scam! Instead, go to the site manually, where you KNOW the site address and can SEE the secure symbol on your browser (like a lock or key). This has been happening to people registered at places like eBay and PayPal, or those with Discover cards, etc.

• If you venture to the "Dark Side" like adult sites or whatever, run your security programs after each session. It's worth the time and effort! Otherwise, schedule your security programs to run weekly.
  

This may sound overly paranoid, but I have almost one of every example above running on my computer. Part of it is the paranoia, but I am a shareware junkie, too! LOL

But as I've mentioned before, I've received probably over 100 viruses in standard email which were all caught, several in Yahoo and HotMail and those were caught, several Parasites, and gotten rid of a lot of adware and spyware. The Parasites I removed manually before I was told about the above links and it took several hours for each one - what a pain! So my paranoia is with good reason - I'm sick and tired of cleaning crap off my computer as well as other's! From the movie Network: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more!":-)

Some of these programs overlap on features, but until it causes problems, I'm hanging on to them! Some are active, some I initialize as needed. The ones I am using are:

• AVG Antivirus (virus, stays active)
• Tauscan (trojans, stays active)
• Outpost (firewall, stays active)
• SpywareBlaster(ActiveX killer, as needed)
• SpyBot (spyware and Parasite remover, as needed)
• Ad-Aware (adware remover, also spyware, as needed)
• Window Washer (cleans up histories, cache, Recycle Bin, etc., stays active)
• Pop Up Stopper (as needed)

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