Got yourself a subscription to Norton or McAfee and think you’re safe from viruses and Trojans and such out on that there Internet?

Think again.

At a bare minimum you ought to also be regularly running Ad-Aware and Spybot, but even using these won’t make you 100% immune to predators (a practical impossibility, anyway.) Add Ewido Security Suite to your system. SpySweeper is another widely recommended software.

Oh, yeah, Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.

Those are the basics. Want more? Free online virus scans are available from Trend Micro and Panda. Use SpywareBlaster, SpyWare Guard, and IE/Spyad to help prevent the installation of spyware and browser hijackers. Trojan Remover is good, too. And check out CWShredder.

SpywareInfo.com is a tremedous resource if you want to dig deeper. Start with this article about preventing browser hijacking, and this article about removing browser hijacks. Be sure to leave a little something in their tip jar.

Yeah, I was up till 2 a.m. the other night trying to get some malware off my computer. Still not finished. It’s the vundo infection. Hey, WinAntiSpyware.com? Fongoo!

Edit (added Oct. 13, 2005) — I also urge you check out the Podcast of Episode 7 of Security Now, focusing on spyware.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 15th, 2005 at 12:01 am and is filed under Internet Stuff.