The three biggest threats to our computers right now (if you use the Web) are viruses (include worms in this category also), spyware (some of which is VERY dangerous) and rootkits. Rootkits are very dangerous as they can be installed without your knowledge at the very heart of your computer and can be difficult to detect as the computer thinks they are part of its makeup.
The good news for us is that AVG, makers of some very fine anti-viral software, including a great free version that is rated very highly by most testers, has now released a free anti-rootkit software that searches out your system for any little devils that may have been installed without your knowledge. You can get it for free on their Web site. Highly recommended!
I have come to the conclusion that anyone who doesn't have a quality anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed on their computer is nuts. Lately viruses don't seem to be much of an issue, at least for me, as I don't open suspicious e-mail's and my computer makes an awfully loud noise when the anti-virus software detects an incoming threat.
Today, the biggest threats seem to come from spyware, which can be picked up just by visiting a Web site. Case-in-point, my 4 year old laptop has finally failed to the point where it is not worth fixing. 48 hours ago, I received via UPS, a new terrific laptop from Gateway with 2 Gb of memory, a dual core processor and a big hard drive at a very good price. I am very pleased with it. I have spent much of the last two days loading software on to it and very little time surfing the web.
In the first 24 hours, my Spyware Doctor software picked up 7 spyware products, all of which were very low-level threats, mostly advertising trackers. Then, just a short time ago today, I ran another check on the system and found 52 spyware products on my new computer, some of which were listed as very dangerous. Good, God, I have only owned the computer for two days and it was already loaded with spyware! That is scary.
And as a side note, I ran a deep spyware scan on my home desktop computer this morning and found a very dangerous tracking spyware that can be used to pick off personal information when I, for instance, access my bank accounts. I don't know how it got on my computer as Spyware Doctor is supposed to prevent this. All I can think of is that it was a new one that got on my system before the software was updated with the newest threats.
Since I wrote about Spyware Doctor vs Counterspy a few months ago, I have done a little additional testing and found Spyware Doctor still able to find some spyware that Counterspy misses, so I am sticking with it.
With so many people trying to steal my personal information and track how I live my life, it is tempting to give up using the Internet altogether. But, of course, that is not possible in this day and age, especially if one is in business. A person just needs to take all the proper precautions. I hope some laws can be passed in the near future that can slow down this terrible growth of spyware.
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