What can I do to prevent malware?
First, do your Windows Updates. Do them automatically, even if you use a dialup connection.
Run an up-to-date anti-virus program, and keep it up to date. Get your antivirus signatures automatically. Manually check for program updates occasionally, as these don’t always update automatically.
Run a program that monitors and blocks attempts to install spyware, adware or other malware. Ad-Aware SE is one such program. Note that this is the paid version, not the free “personal” version, which handles after-the-fact only. Other commercial spyware/malware blockers can help similarly.
Some programs like WinPatrol monitor various aspects of your browser and related settings so that corrections can easily be made after a problem has occurred.
Finally, you can choose to run a different web browser than the highly-targeted Internet Explorer, such as target=”_blank”Firefox or Opera. None of these interfere with Internet Explorer — you can still keep it on your system, use it when you want or need to, and can even have any or all of these running at the same time.
You can run an email program other than the targets Outlook and Outlook Express. Eudora and Thunderbird are alternate email programs you could use.
How can I identify and remove malware from my computer?
There are several free and commercial programs that are designed to remove spyware, adware and other malware. Some examples are Spybot Search & Destroy, SpywareBlaster and Ad-Aware SE Personal.
Spybot S&D and SpywareBlaster are free. Ad-Aware SE Personal is free for personal use — use by non-profits and businesses requires the purchased version. The biggest challenge with these programs is deciding if you want them to remove everything that they find.
VIPREpremium is my choice for always-running and periodic anti-virus, anti-spyware / anti-adware scans, and firewall. Without the firewall, you can get
VIPRE.
An excellent tool for diagnosis of installed programs is WinPatrol, which is free. There is a paid version WinPatrol Plus (which I use!) that includes a couple more functions and access to their information database to help you decide whether to allow individual programs to startup automatically, but the basic WinPatrol program itself is free. You can always use Google to find out about program files — just enter the filename in Google’s search box and you should find plenty of references.
Microsoft’s beta anti-spyware product
Microsoft has a beta version of its new anti-spyware/anti-malware program for download directly from Microsoft. Microsoft recently bought GIANT AntiSpyware on which this is based. Microsoft’s main page at www.microsoft.com has a link to the beta.
The email newsletters that I have seen, so far, have recommended trying this beta. Bill Gates announced in February 2005 that the Microsoft anti-spyware program would be available free and that there would be an enhanced version available (presumably at a charge) for network administrators.
I’d been using Microsoft’s Antispyware, but become disgusted by Microsoft’s changed recommendation on several adware systems to “ignore” from “quarantine.” This happened about the same time Microsoft was rumored to be in negotiations for purchase of one of these adware systems.
Sunbelt Software’s Counterspy
As a result, I changed to Sunbelt Software’s
CounterSpy, which is priced at very reasonable $20, for my full–time antispyware/antiadware tool.
Sunbelt Software has a
CounterSpy 30-day free trial available from their website.
Sunbelt Software’s VIPRE Antivirus Premium
Once Sunbelt released VIPRE Antivirus, I switched to it from NOD32 and CounterSpy.
Now, I use VIPRE Antivirus Premium, which includes antivirus, antispyware and firewall.
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