how do i protect my pc to spywares,viruses and worms???

Question

everytime i download something theres a possibily of a new virus, worm or spyware that enters the pc. What do i do to prevent this? I always upgrade my antivirus but it seems futile...Help!!!

Answer 1

You need a decent firewall, virus scanner and spyware tool.

For a firewall there are a lot of options, though the windows XP service pack 2 firewall works fine. For spyware i'd say download both adaware and spybot as they can pick up stuff the other misses. For antivirus i'd recommend antivir XP, as i've never had any problems with it and no viruses, unlike AVG which says it fixes something but the virus will still be there.

When possble set your antivirus to scan on file write at the very least, so it will tell you if you pick up a virus the moment a file containing it appears on your computer. For the record torrent sites are generally ok so long as you don't download stupid stuff like porn or cracks from them.

Changing operating systems is an extreme solution however you still get viruses for every operating system that exists so changing will only change what viruses you'll pick up at the end of the day.

Answer 2

Search the web for:
Antivirus, Firewall, Anti-Spyware
They're the main things you'll want. However if you want even more you can get separate Anti-Malware, Anti-Trojan and all sorts.
You can buy them but I find free ones suffice for me and are often a lot better than the big brands like Norton.
You should search to see which ones appeal most to you. Personally I use:

AVG Antivirus or Avast Antivirus
Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall
SuperAntispyware
Ad-Aware
Spyware Blaster

All those are free. Though have a look round, there are loads more. NetVeda Safety.Net, ZoneAlarm, AntiVir, Spybot Search & Destroy, etc etc.

Download.com is a pretty good place to start looking.

Answer 3

Your Anti-Virus has nothing to do with preventing infections. Your anti-virus clears viruses and malware after they have infected your PC. Therefore you must use a good firewall to block malware before it reaches your computer, I recommend ZoneAlarm Firewall (there's a free version too).

For Anti-Spyware, you need a client with active protection which means that it doesn't remove spyware in scans only but actively (prevents spyware from loading) my recommendations: Spyware Doctor 4 or Ad-Aware Professional 6 SE, Spyware Sweeper

Have a secure and reliable PC experience

Answer 4

I have one link. It is the only link you'll need:

http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?

They will tell you how to get free spyware protection (such as Ewido, Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destroy).

But here's the best bit about this site - you can post a log of your pc and they will interpret it to tell you if you are infected. They will do this for free. I have done this a number of times and the problem is always solved.

By all means go to other websites and use other links, but to know if you are infected, go to the site I've linked to above, read the instructions (you'll need to download a very small program called Hijack This), post your log and they'll do the rest.

Answer 5

Free antivirus software www.avast.com automatically updates each time you log on.
spyware get either Spybot or Ad Aware

All depends on where your downloading stuff from. A lot of torrnet sites are filled with nasties, same with free screensavers.
Always save your downloads to a temporary folder and scan them first with your AV software.
There is really no definate way to be sure about the content of a download unless you know 100% it is a trusted source eg a friends photo collection.

To combat viruses, you could always change your operatiing system from Windows to a Linux based system as viruses are manily targetted at Windows

Answer 6

Be very careful about the hosting sites you go to. Viruses are always evolving past the capabilities of antivirus software. Taking care about what you download can reduce this quite alot.

It's a bit of an ultimatem, but Mac's are quite resiliant to viruses. Roughly 90% of viruses are aimed towards Pc's.

Answer 7

Download a anti-spyware program like Spybot search and destroy from www.download.com.

After you install it can block spyware etc and it will protect your pc. Also I advise to run a weekly check as this will help further protect your pc.

Answer 8

Here's a link to some of the best free antispyware such as Spybot, Spywareblaster, Adaware etc
- http://www.filehippo.com/software/antispyware/

consider using free antiphishing toolbars too
Netcraft
- http://toolbar.netcraft.com/
McAfee Site advisor
- http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ie.html

Also look at
Superantispyware
- http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Super-Anti-Spyware/SuperAntiSpyware.html

Spycatcher Express
- http://www.tenebril.com/consumer/spyware/spycatcher-express.php

A Squared Free
- http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

all free; use only one antivirus and one firewall product at a time to avoid instability; two or more antispyware can be used together.

Answer 9

I reccomend to use a combination of antivirus with firewall and spyware
for free such applications go here
http://freewww.uv.ro/security/security.html

don't use 2 antivirus applications at once, make sure you have installed only one of its kind
go to the link above and download AVG antivirus, Zone Alarm firewall, and Adware or Stopzilla spyware/adware

Answer 10

1 don't download porn.
2 find and install AVG Free. it's free antivirus.
3 find and install Adaware. free.
4 find and install Spybot. free.

you can find all three at downloads dot com (probably). that's all i use and i never have problems of my own. i charge a lot of money to clean out the crap from other peoples machine, hehe.