SCUMWARE: A common term for
viruses, Trojans, worms, and all the other evils some people elect to
inflict on us for reasons best left to psychoanalysis. We have cleaned up
countless PCs infested with "scumware". People often ask how we do the
cleanup, and we herewith share some of the standard software tools used, and
recommend for continued use if the customer so desires. Please note that
these are only opinions, and you should review the information at the
vendor's site to make sure the product will do what you want it to do, and
that you have the appropriate authorization to use their software. That
said, here is the list:
BASICS: You need at least three items:
Anti-virus, a Firewall, and anti-spyware, in that
order. You also need to check for and apply all patches for your
operating system (e.g., Micsosoft© Windows®).
And always keep all of your defense programs updated or they lose
effectiveness.
For Windows XP PCs:
-
ZoneAlarm
Internet Security Suite For Windows XP©
PCs connected to the Internet, we recommend ZoneAlarm Internet Security
Suite. It has anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall functions combined in
an integrated package. The firewall is annoying at first, because the
first time it finds a program on your PC that tries to access the
Internet, it asks if you want it to let the progam do so. That's good. If
you have just asked Internet Explorer (or FireFox) to show you a web page,
you can tell ZoneAlarm to let you see it. Otherwise, who knows what may be
trying to send your (address book?) out to everybody on the web.
- The Windows firewall in XP - it's a whole lot better than nothing, but
doesn't protect you against programs sending data out from your computer
unbeknownst to you.
For All PCs:
Individual items to consider are:
Anti-virus: Most of them are
pretty good, e.g., Norton/Symantec, McAfee, and other biggies;
Firewalls:
Anti-spyware: Two long-term favorites, each of which does slightly
different things. Update and run them every week or so;
Your ISP (BellSouth, AOL, etc.) may offer some "free" anti-scumware
programs that work pretty well. They sometimes load their own set of
problems running in the background processes of your computer, so watch for
significant slowdowns and advertising of another sort.
Should the scumware overwhelm you, shut off your PC and
give us a call at 706-465-2743. We may be able to clean it up and save your
data. Top •
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