What is the best way to protect my computer from viruses?

Question

I have Nortons antivirus program and Spy Sweeper. I stay away from dirty sites and mostly use the internet for school, work and chatting with my friends. Occasionally I surf but mostly for research purposes. Some funny sites like ebaumsworld, tomgreen.com and such. Am I doing everything I can to protect my computer?

Answer 1

There are actually two seperate questions here:

What is the best way to protect my computer from viruses?
Am I doing everything I can to protect my computer?

Overall - it's the computer itself you want to protect. This includes protecting it from viruses, spyware, full drives, low ram, unneeded files, hackers, children and other family members as well as protecting the computer from yourself.

If you secure your computer and maintain it, use smart choices in the programs and habits you use, your computer will last longer than the 3 - 4 years it's designed to last.

Let's start from the outside in -

Router
This works like a hardware firewall. The router doesn't respond to most of the "are you there?" tactics hackers use. If some hacker's scanning for victims and manages to find you despite the security ... they'll see the router not your computer.

If it's a wireless router - secure it, secure it, secure it! Change the admin password. Put an encrypted password to connect. Look up all the ways to secure your particular router. Write down the settings.

Computer

Firewall
You need one. Yes, you do. And no, Microsoft's is NOT enough. Get Zonealarm, it's free. (link is below)

Browser
This is how most people see the internet. There's a high chance you're using the "blue e" aka Internet Explorer. This is not a good habit as IE hasn't been worked on (beyond fixes to problems people complain loudly about) in YEARS. It's big, slow, out-of-date, allows all kinds of nasties in, insecure, inflexible, and a major target for hackers.

Get Firefox - it's also free, sleek, faster, more secure, blocks pop-ups, is very customizable, easy to use, and once you start using tabs... you'll get frustrated with IE.
There are also very simple ways to NEVER see a banner / iframe / image ad again - it's an add-on to Firefox called Adblock Plus. I also recommend the automatic filter for Adblock - Filterset.G Updater.
All free (Links are below)

Other programs that find stuff on the net (file sharing, instant messengers) are also a security risk. I don't know what you have / use, so I'd recommend looking up "securing thenameoftheprogram" on google.

Get and install all updates to all your programs - Windows, your browser, your anti-virus, your anti-spyware, your router, you name it.

Ok, now we get to do the clean up part:

Anti-virus
Viruses can look through your computer, send your info to nasty people, fill up your hard drive, fry your computer... the list is endless.
I recommend AVG (Link is below)

Anti-spyware
Spyware / Adware / Malware are under the same category. Spyware watches what you do and sends the info to someone else. Adware shows you pop-ups regardless of your security settings. Malware is all of the above and more.
Ad-aware, Spyware Blaster and Spybot Search & Destroy are my recommendations and the links are below.

Uninstall programs you don't use.

Download "CCleaner" to find the files that are just clutter (temporary files, browser histories, browser caches, etc)

Get into the habit of defragging and checking your disk for errors (both are options under "My Computer", right click on your hard drive, choose "properties", click on the "tools") twice a month. You may want look up how to automate this through Scheduled Tasks.

Protect your computer from yourself and others:

Make each user on your computer their own Windows profile - and only give them (and yourself) limited accounts.
The only time you need full (admin) access is to install programs.

Make each person password protect their account.

Get into the habit of changing ALL your passwords once a month. Don't write down your passwords in a place others can find / use. Make passwords that use both numbers and letters and that are hard for anyone else to guess - I recommend keyboard patterns.

Do yourself a huge favour and get a UPS - uninteruptable power supply. This goes one step beyond a power surge protecter and gives you time to shut down the computer, saves your router, etc from losing their settings or being fried by power fluctuations.

Maybe you should print off this list and check it once a month...

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

The best way to protect your computer is to not go on-line....kind of how the best way to avoid STD's is to not have sex.

Honestly I would make sure all of your Windows updates are current, your anti-virus and such is current, and every week or so go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ it's a free website that will also scan for viruses (I've used it, it's not a spy ware site) they update the software files hourly, and it's another program from your Norton - so it may catch things that your Norton misses.

Also, around once a week, clean our your cookies and temporary Internet files - this will keep your browser running quickly, save storage space on your C drive, and give you a heads up if something is funky. From your browser window select Tools -> Internet Options -> Delete Cookies -> Delete Files.

Answer 5

Everyone here already gave you best answers for this Kevin, but I needed to post so that, I could give you a link for an older question you had about watching TV online (I had no way to contact you, so sorry to do it this way):

My dad found this site and was watching some pretty great TV for free:

http://www.viidoo.com/en/index.php

He seemed to be watching some HBO at one point, but I'm not sure if that was a free trial the network was airing.

Good luck overseas, and hope this link help you. :)

Answer 6

★★ SECURITY SOFTWARE & TIPS ★★

◙ The very best virus scanners are free. Mcafee & Norton Antivirus are mostly hype and won't do as good as the free ones. -- About.com & Smart Computing Magazine

◙ Download and install AVG. Use it first and see if it finds any viruses or trojans.

☞ http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

◙ After running AVG go here and run this virus scanner online. There is no need to install it on your computer.

☞ http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

◙ Microsoft's New Live Safety Center. Download this scanner to check and remove spyware, viruses, get rid of obsolete files and junk off your computer, and improve your PCs performance.

☞ http://safety.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm?s_cid=msep

◙ The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks computers running Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom—and helps remove any infection found. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed. You can run this tool online FREE.

☞ http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

◙ Best spyware remover is Ad Aware. Download and install the free version.

◙ http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

◙ Here is a wealth of information about fighting spyware and spyware producers. Join their free forum for answers to your questions. -- Smart Computing Magazine

☞ http://www.spywareinfo.com/
☞ http://www.spywarewarrior.com/
☞ http://www.google.com/search?q=adware+info

◙ Before downloading email attachments in Gmail and Yahoo Mail click on the link that says, "Scan With Norton Antivirus".

◙ Before downloading any software from the internet type it into http://groups.google.com/ to see if that title is known for spyware or viruses. Google Groups has over 1 billion posts spanning 25 years to help you. Even after checking it there ALWAYS scan it before opening it. You just can't be too careful. -- Smart Computing Magazine

◙ A lot of the download sites like http://www.download.com/ and http://www.tucows.com/ scan software before releasing it to the public. But just for safety sake you should still scan it yourself.

◙ If you have a broadband modem or network router the firewall in these is not as effective as a software firewall. The firewall that comes with Windows XP isn't very good either. Download ZoneAlarm and your system will be a lot safer. -- Smart Computing Magazine

☞ http://www.zonealarm.com/

◙ Here is a really great article on browser hijacking. This will show you how to get rid of it. There is a tutorial and software to get rid of part of it. You'll need to make some changes to your computer's registry to get rid of the rest of it. Click on the chatroom link on their main page if you need help.

☞ http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/hijacked/

◙ Here is Yahoo!'s Internet Security section.

☞ http://security.yahoo.com/

◙ Get more information at these PC Magazine Web sites.

☞ http://www.pcmag.com/
☞ http://www.smartcomputing.com/

◙ Top 100 Computer & Software Magazines.

☞ http://netvalley.com/top100mag.html

Answer 7

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Answer 8

spy sweeper is not a good program to start with in the first place try getting adaware, it has a much larger database of things its looking for as far as spy ware and such. also as a note you dont have to buy the program for it to work with all its functions.

Answer 9

I have made simple rules to prevent virus infection :

1-Don`t click on suspicious E - mails` attachments.
2-Don`t click on links that have been sent via IM.
3-Update your antivirus software frequently.

now don`t worry as you have very safe browsing habits ,the risk of infection of your machine is very low.
enjoy surfing the web.

Answer 10

Adblock is a program that everybody need, i found it here http://bit.ly/1pkhnpV

With this software you will blocks all the boring pop-up and advertisement!!