Home > Spam/virus-infected email Updated:  May 20, 2009 If you believe you've been spammed by this web site (or by me); or if you think you have received a virus-infected or spyware-infected email message from it (or me), think again. You didn't get it from here... or from me. Believe it. And if you'll just trouble yourself to read the following article, you'll not only understand why I couldn't possibly have spammed you or sent you a virus- or spyware-infected email; but you will also learn how you can become part of the solution to the larger problem that made you think I had sent you a malicious email message in the first place. Sadly, most people won't take the time to read the following article; and they'll just keep assuming that I'm spamming them or sending them virus- and/or spyware-infected emails. There's not much I can do, I guess, about people who insist on being stupid.   PART 1: Why the malicious email message you received couldn't possibly have come from me PART 2: How you got the malicious email message in the first place, and why it seems like it came from me PART 3: Free software that will both protect your computer, and will make sure it won't be part of the problem in the future PART 4: Two last pieces of indispensable wisdom and advice that you should take very seriously PART 1: Why the malicious email message you received couldn't possibly have come from me I'm one of the Internet's earliest and most intolerant anti-spam activists. Don't believe it? Click here and notice what kind of web site it is; then scroll down to the very bottom of that page and notice who's donating its domain name registration services. I don't send spam. Period. Never have. Never will. Believe it. None of my web hosting or domain name services clients are allowed to send spam either. Ever. Not even once. I have a zero-tolerance, "one-time-and-you're-out" policy about it. I'd terminate the web hosting and/or domain name services of my own mother, in a heartbeat, if I discovered she was sending-out spam. As for virus-infected emails... I don't do those, either. And, unlike most knuckleheads out there on the Internet, I actually know how to ensure that it never happens (i.e., to ensure that my computer is never infected by viruses or spyware which I could then pass along to you via email or some other means). After thirty years in the computer business, that's the least of the things I should know. "But," you say, "I have a virus-infected spam email message right here in my inbox... and your email address is in its 'From:' field. So, then... precisely how do you explain that, smart guy... eh?" Very simple: It's a forgery; a fake. It's not actually from me. Really. And if most people had been paying attention for the last few years instead of thinking of the Internet as their personal, mindless little playland, then they'd know and understand how and why that sort of thing happens. But, alas, most don't. So, fine, then; I'll explain it... JUMP BACK TO THE TOP PART 2: How you got the malicious email message in the first place, and why it seems like it came from me I've been on the Internet for many years, starting almost as far back as when it was the old "ARPANet," before there was even such a thing as the "worldwide web;" and I've been on the worldwide web since its very beginning in 1994. Consequently, my email address has been out there seemingly forever. It's on web sites (both with and without my permission), in forum/bulletin board postings, in Usenet newsgroup postings, and who knows where else. And it's been harvested from such places by every kind of spammer and malicious hacker/cracker and virus-sender who ever lived. Everyone's got it; and literally thousands have abused it in one way or another... including forging it into the "From:" field of their outgoing spam and virus-infected emails. I've also built and/or maintained some very high-profile web sites over the years; and in so doing, I've communicated, via email, with literally thousands of people for one reason or another. Hence, my email address is in emails in both the "Inbox" and "Sent Items" folders, as well as the address books, of more people than I can count. Why does that matter, you ask? Again, if you'd been paying attention the past few years you'd know that one of the most common virus spreading methodologies is for the malicious spyware or virus sender to send unsuspecting recipients virus- or spyware-infected emails which appear to be from someone they know; and which invite said recipients to view a photo, or open a game file, etc. When the unsuspecting and overly-trusting recipient does so, his or her computer becomes infected with whatever virus payload said email was carrying. Let's say this happens to Sally. The virus plants itself into the unsuspecting recipient Sally's hard drive without Sally's knowledge. Then it just sits there, waiting for the next time Sally logs-in to the Internet; and when next she does, then the virus, sensing a live Internet connection, comes alive. In the background, without Sally's knowledge, the virus interrogates Sally's email inbox folder, and/or her "Sent Items" folder, and/or her address book, and it randomly selects an email address therefrom. It then plops said email address into the "From:" field of a virus-infected message that the virus is preparing to send out from Sally's machine, without Sally's knowledge. The virus then randomly selects yet another email address from Sally's inbox folder, and/or her "Sent Items" folder, and/or her address book, and it then plops said address into the "To:" field of that email that it's preparing. Having filled-in the "From:" and the "To:" fields of its virus-infecvted message with email addresses that it found on the unsuspecting Sally's computer, it then fires-off said virus-infected email message, in the background, without Sally having any idea that it happened. The virus does this over and over again, every few seconds, in the background, without Sally's knowledge, for as long as she's connected to the Internet; and again the next time she connects, day after day, week after week, month after month. Since it's likely that most of the email addresses in Sally's inbox, or "Sent Items" folder, or address book are people that Sally knows; and since it's likely that many of them know each other, when the unsuspecting recipient of the aforementioned virus-infected email from Sally's machine receives it, it often appears to be from someone that he or she knows. For purposes of our little example, here, let's say it's Billy, Sally's boyfriend. Since Billy know's most of Sally's friends; and since it's pretty much only Sally's friends whose email addresses are in Sally's inbox, "Sent Items" folder, or address book, when Billy receives the aforementioned virus-infected email send without Sally's knowledge from Sally's computer, he thinks it's from one of Sally's friends. Consequently, Billy's unafraid to just go ahead and click on the photo or game file that's attached to the virus-infected email message, and which said message invites him or her to click on... ...and, when Billy does, voila!, yet another computer becomes infected with the self-replicating virus. At that point, the virus would be on both Sally's machine, and Billy's machine... in both cases, without their knowledge. And, in both cases, the virus then continues its dirty duty, only now it's doing it from two machines (Sally's and Billy's)... every few seconds, from both of them; hundreds per hour; thousands per day... infecting, exponentially, the machines of everyone Sally knows, and everyone Billy knows, and everyone that they know... and so on, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum. As earlier mentioned, my email address is in emails in the inbox folders, and in the "Sent Items" folders, and in the address books of quite literally millions of people. Millions. If any of those millions of computers happens to be infected with a self-replicating virus such as I've described here (and most of them are), then my email address ends-up in the "From:" field (and, frankly, the "To:" field, also) of literally thousands, or maybe even hundreds of thousands, of virus-infected and/or spyware-infected emails, or spams (or both), every single day... day, after day, after day, after day, after day, after day... forever. And not a single one of them -- not one -- is actually from me. Not one, single one. To the last of them, they're all faked, forged, virus-infected or spyware-infected email messages and/or spams sent-out by self-replicating virus programs that are hidden deep in the bowels of "robot" computers owned by unsuspecting people -- usually nice people, just like you -- who won't bother to use and keep up-to-date any anti-virus and/or anti-spyware software... and maybe a firewall, too! That's right, all these careless, thoughtless, owners of virus- and spyware-infected computer would need to do to stop all this from happening is use, and keep up-to-date, a decent anti-spyware or anti-virus programs, and maybe a firewall, too. That's it. That's all they'd have to do. But these knuckleheads -- and they are knucklehads if they're not using good anti-virus/anti-spyware/firewall programs -- will just not take the problem seriously... ...and so, just look at the havoc they wreak on the rest of us! It was probably a virus-infected or spyware-infected email, or spam, that you received from just such a knucklehead's computer that brought you here, today; and caused you to be reading these words, right now. Kinda' makes you just wanna' just slap 'em, doesn't it? Everyone should be using, and keeping up-to-date, and a good anti-virus and anti-spyware program. Everyone! And a FIREWALL software product is also a good idea... even for dialup users. No one is immune from the ravages of viruses and spyware; and email is the most common way that viruses are spread; and both email, as well as certain kinds of web sites, and ad-supported, "freeware" software programs, are the most common methods by which spyware is spread. Both are harmful; and both need to be kept in check by good anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and guarded against by good firewall software, on everyone's desktop and laptop computers! And, get this: Some of the best anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and firewalls, don't even cost anything (at least not for home users). They're FREE! That's right... FREE... at least for home users. (Commercial users, companies, offices, etc., must purchase the fee-based versions of these utilities.) So there's just no excuse for any Internet user not having, using, and keeping up-to-date a good anti-virus and anti-spyware utility... and a decent firewall. Of course, your having good anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software on your machine still won't keep you from receiving spam and/or virus/spyware-infected email from the machines of others out there in the universe. However, it will at least ensure that no such malicious messages are sent from your computer. You may not be able to control the entire world, but you can (and should) at least control your little corner of it. JUMP BACK TO THE TOP PART 3: Free software that will both protect your computer, and will make sure it won't be part of the problem in the future First let me say this about "free" software: Usually it's not as good as the stuff that actually costs money. No surprise there. Most makers of free versions of their products are just trying to get you hooked on their way of doing things so you'll upgrade to their fee-based versions. However, most makers of free anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software understand that viruses, worms, trojans, spyware and other such maliciousness hurts us all; and makes the Internet a more dangerous and unwelcoming place. So, many of them see it as a public service to produce a free version that at least does (and does well) the very minimum things that a product of its type should do. Therefore, while certain well-known, fee-based products (like Norton or McAfee anti-virus products, for example, just to name two) are inherently better in an overall sense; and while business and commercial clients are usually forced to use only the fee-based products, home users may avail themselves of some excellent free products for their personal use... products that get the job done smartly; and which need make no apologies to anyone for their relative overall quality. Yes, of course, if you can afford it and if you can keep-up with the annual virus definition file update subscriptions, then most definitely get Norton AntiVirus as your anti-virus utility. None of the other Norton products are worth a damn, mind you... so avoid them like the plague. But Norton's anti-virus product, in various head-to-head tests every year, finds more of the really obscure exploits -- including ones that aren't even in its virus definition file yet; and, therefore, which it can only identify as a potential virus because it's suspicious in some way -- than any of its well-known competitors. Believe me when I tell you that I hate loving Norton AntiVirus, but it's best-of-breed... like it or not. However, if you'd like a free anti-virus product that does an excellent job on home computers, then do not be afraid download, install, and then trust the anti-virus product that I recommend, below... as well as all of the other anti-spyware and firewall and other products that I recommend here, too. And if the trial version of McAfee's anti-virus product came with your computer (as so often is the case with store-bought, name-brand consumer systems), de-install it and use, instead, the free anti-virus product that I recommend, below. In fact, speaking of de-installing: Before downloading and installing any of my recommendations, below, be sure to first find and then completely de-install any anti-virus, anti-spyware, or firewall software programs which may happen to already be on your system. No computer should have more than one anti-virus scanner/destroyer, or more than one anti-spyware innoculator, or more than one anti-spyware scanner/destroyer, or more than one... er... well... you get the point. Always just have one of each kind of software utility on your machine. My six reccomendations, below, each do something different and will not conflict with one another. They may, however, conflict with other products of their respective types which you may happen to already have on your system. So please first find all such products on your computer, and de-install them before doing anything I recommend, below. And if you have firewall or anti-virus or anti-spyware products from Microsoft, which came with Windows, either de-activate or de-install them. Believe it or not, none of the Microsoft anti-virus, or anti-spyware, or firewall products are as good as even the free ones that I'm recommending, below. In order to adequately protect your PC from malware and other exploits, you need the following: A software firewall to stand like a sentry at the gate of your computer's connection to the Internet... blocking attempts by others to either break-in to your computer, or attempts by mal- ware already on your machine to "phone home."   An anti-virus utility to monitor your computer all the time, detecting any viruses, trojans, and other nasty things which try to get onto your hard drive, or which are attached to email messages, or which sneak onto your machine via web sites or infected CD discs, or music files, or document files, etc.   A Host Intrusion Protection System (HIPS) utility to intercept attempts by malware to launch/load it- self, and then stop it dead in its tracks before it can.   An anti-spyware utility to periodically scan your en- tire system and detect worms, trojans, tracking cook- ies and other exploits; then promptly remove them.   A web browser innoculation utility to "innoculate" the Windows registry against a known list of exploits so that if you visit a web site containing one, it will be unable to infect your computer.   A web browser default home page anti-hijack utility to monitor for attempts by malware to change your web browser's default home page... a common tac- tic of exploits as a means of sending you to web sites which contain even more lethal malware and exploits.   A web browser rating plug-in that warns of danger- ous web sites whenever you either see them listed in Google search results, or try to directly access them. Fortunately, you don't need a separate piece of software for each of these tasks.  Some of the products which I'm recommending here will perform more than one of the above. NOTE:  Windows now has a free firewall, and a malware threat detection utility, built right into it.  You may wonder, then, why one would need anything more (or instead).  And the answer, to put it bluntly, is that the "Windows Firewall" and the "Windows Defender" malware detection utilities flat-out suck.  They're just awful. It's as simple as that, really. The Windows Firewall actually does a reasonable (though nevertheless ham-handed) job of blocking incoming break-in attempts, but it's not very easily configurable; and, by default, it blocks no attempts by malware already on your machine to talk back out through the firewall... to, in effect, "phone home."  That's very bad. Though it (the Windows Firewall) can be told to block specific, known malware, that's a ridiculous requirement!  One would have to know that the malware's there, in the first place; and then how to describe it to the firewall, in order for outgoing blocking to even work.  Since malware tends not to announce itself, or to help the user understand enough about itself to allow one to properly describe it to a firewall (or to any other kind of) utility, the net effect is that the Windows Firewall, as a practical matter, doesn't block outgoing communications.  And, again, that's very bad. The Windows Defender malware detection utility actually isn't half bad (albeit also in a ham-handed sort of way) at what it's intended to do.  However, it has such an odd and irritating behavior and user interface that most people grow so weary of it so quickly that they would almost rather just turn it the damned thing off and take their chances. So, then... really... one should (and I'm recommending that everyone) just turn off both of those utilities (and if one knows how to do it, even disable their services) and just not use them.  The aftermarket products that I'll be herein recommending are far better... and they will also integrate themselves right into Vista's and Windows 7's Security Center so that Windows will see and treat them as pretty much the same as its own, built-in security utilities. Please read all of rest of this web page before downloading and starting to use anything recommended here.  You do not necessarily need every single thing discussed here.  You have some choices... and the rest of this part of this web page will help you to understand how to make them.  Take your time, and really make sure you understand before actaully doing anything. So, then... let's get started... AVG Free Anti-Virus & Anti-spyware A credible free anti-virus and anti-spyware utility AVG is made by a European company that has really established itself as a respected player in the world of anti-virus software.  Its free edition, through version 7.x, has long been a staple for home PC users; and its commercial/fee-based version is fast becoming respected even by big corporate IT managers.  Some are beginning to purchase and use AVG's commercial products instead of bigger and more well-known products like Norton or McAfee. NOTE:  When this web page was originally created, I recommended the free AVG anti-virus product (back then, it didn't yet have an anti-spyware component... it was just anti-virus).  Today, frankly, AVG is my second choice.  I now prefer the anti-virus part of the free Comodo Internet Security suite (which also includes a firewall and a HIPS utility).  However, as you'll read herein, there are circumstances under which one might still prefer AVG... even if one also uses, at the very least, the firewall part of Comodo.  So, I've decided to leave this AVG part of this web page intact so that the user can read about it, and also about Comodo, and then decide for himself or herself.  Please keep reading... AVG's free edition will sit in your computer's "System Tray" (or what Microsoft now wants us to call the "Notifcation Area") in the lower-rightmost corner of your screen, and will alert you, in realtime, if you happen to navigate your way into a folder which has a virus-infected file in it (or if you try to open or execute one), or if you try to download one, or if you receive an email message with one attached.  It will automatically keep itself up-to-date; and it will perform a periodic whole-system-scan on whatever automatic schedule you specify.  It's difficult to image what more one could ask of any anti-virus software package... especially a free one. Some head-to-head tests of free AVG versus other free anti-virus products (such as Avira or Avast, just to name the other two top contendors out there) have suggested that the free version of AVG isn't quite as good as either Avira or Avast.  (Though its commercial/fee-based version is apparently as good as any out there... maybe even Norton or McAfee).  My experience is that it just depends on who's testing, and what batch of test malware is employed in said tests.  It's true that AVG doesn't do as well as either Avira or Avast in some tests... but, then again, AVG out-paces both Avira and Avast in certain other tests.  That said, it's probably not fair to interpret that as me saying it's just  a toss-up since it seems that AVG really is a tiny bit weak in at least some areas.  However, the downsides of Avira and Avast cause most users to trade-off the possibility of AVG missing something now and then (which Avast or Avira might have caught) in exchange for AVG's superior user interface (in the case of AVG vs. Avast), or its ease of updating (in the case of AVG vs. Avira).  Overall, AVG, when compared with the other two, is the best of all worlds... and so it is my recommendation... ...that is, assuming you won't end-up agreeing with my thinking regarding Comodo Internet Security once you've read it, here, in a few moments. One thing that's really nice about free AVG is that it is now, starting with version 8.x, more than just an anti-virus product.  It is now an anti-spyware product, too... two-in-one.  However, one downside of that is that free AVG is now a larger, more resource-intensive product... a memory and process hog, some have called it.  On older machines, that could be a real problem.  AVG should definitely make it so that one can turn on or off either of its parts so that those who only want the anti-virus component, but not the anti-spyware component (or vice versa), may easily so choose and configure.  Some users of the new AVG free edition also complain that it contains a little slightly-less-than-subtle (but not terribly obnoxious) advertising.  There are, however, published "hacks" floating around out there which can help one to disable it if one is of a mind to so do. AVG now also includes something it calls "Link Scanner," which will place little rating icons next to links to web pages on Google (and Yahoo, and some other search engine) search results.  In a way, that's similar to what McAfee's Site Advisor (which is discussed further down, herein) does... except that Site Advisor does more, and does it better.  Again, you'll learn more about that later.  For now, just keep reading... So, then, AVG's free edition is good stuff... no doubt about it.  Whether you decide to standardize upon it, however, is your call.  Personally, were I you, I'd strongly consider the free Comodo Internet Security suite (described in the next section) instead.  It's three products in one:  A firewall, an anti-virus utility, and a HIPS utility.  Granted, Comodo doesn't have an anti-spyware component (yet... its maker says it will have one soon), but my personal recommendations, further down, herein, for what you should be using for any-spyware are better than AVG's anti-spyware component in any case.  So, though while I'm not necessarily telling you to just ignore AVG, I'm almost (darned near) saying something like that.  But just keep reading, and see what you think... Comodo Internet Security (CIS) A firewall, anti-virus and HIPS utility CIS is a relative newcomer to the world of anti-virus products.  However, it has arrived with a bang, to say the least.  It started out as a free firewall... and boy-oh-boy was it ever good at that!  It was so good, in fact, that it quickly eclipsed the previous free firewall market leader:  ZoneAlarm Free Edition.  In head-to-head tests by some of the best firewall testing labs on the planet, even early versions of the free Comodo Firewall were found to be as good, overall (but particularly in the area of "leak testing") as any software firewall out there... including the non-free, commercial, fee-based ones.  In fact, by the time version 2 of the free Comodo firewall was released, it was putting ZoneAlarm to shame in pretty much every way.  Even before the free Comodo Firewall morphed into the larter Comodo Internet Security suite that it is today, I started using the firewall... and I've never looked back.  I took ZoneAlarm off my machine, and that was that. Included with the free Comodo Firewall was a "host intrusion protection system" (HIPS) component called "Defense+" which added to the firewall's overall utility by stopping anything from launching/running which the user did not expressly allow (either individually, or categorically, depending on how it was configured).  That, too, made the old free Comodo Firewall something to really get excited about. But then it got even better when Comodo combined its free firewall and Defense+ HIPs products into a bundled suite which also included a full-featured anti-virus product! Comodo named its new suite of three products "Comodo Internet Security" (CIS); and among all of the various freebies of its type floating around out there, it is my considered opinion that CIS is best-of-breed.  I kid you not. Now, that said, it's true that the anti-virus part of CIS is still being refined; and that it (as of this writing) maybe isn't yet quite as strong as it will soon be.  It might not even be as strong, yet, as the free AVG anti-virus product mentioned above (though it probably is at this point).  However, starting with CIS's version 3.9 (and especially once CIS version 4.0 is released in the fall of 2009), the quality of even the anti-virus part of CIS will no longer be in question.  However, one of the things that makes CIS so superior is how its three parts -- together, as a group -- combine to create a virtually impenetrable wall of security around one's computer (that is, if one knows how to use it); and, as such, it almost doesn't matter if one of CIS's three parts happens to be a little weaker than some other stand-alone products of said parts's particular type.  For example, it isn't so much the anti-virus part of CIS that protects as it is the anti-virus part, backed-up by the HIPS part; and encircled, overall, by the firewall part.  The work together, as a team.  Even if some piece of malware somehow gets past the anti-virus part of CIS, then the HIPS part will nevertheless stop it dead in its tracks whenever if it tries to launch itself.  And the firewall will likely keep the darned thing from ever getting onto the system in the first place!  It's a killer combo, and I love it. The only real downside to CIS (and really, the only reason why you may want to hold-off on starting to use it until its version 4.0 has been released) is that its HIPS component does, indeed, take a bit of getting used to.  It requires a better-than-average (or at least a better than novice-level) technical understanding of things in order for one to know how best to respond to its sometimes-frequent, often arcane (and, therefore, sometimes annoying) little pop-up warnings.  CIS's critics complain, in fact, that those HIPS pop-ups are so frequent and confusing as to be a downright nuisance... and, actually, I sort of agree. However, to its credit, it turns out that Comodo sort of agrees, too... and so has pledged, by the time its version 4.0 is released, that CIS will be the best-behaved (and least troublesome, overall) product of its type anywhere out there!  And my experience with Comodo, so far, as a company, has been that if it says it will do something, then by-golly it will.  So, then, starting with its version 4.0, even novices will easily be able to use CIS without having to have any special arcane technical expertise. Whether you decide to try CIS now, or to wait for CIS 4.0 (slated for release sometime in the fall of 2009), is your decision.   I would say to just go ahead and give CIS a try now... but I have to admit that if you're not really good at figuring out what its technical pop-up warnings mean, then maybe you should just wait.  It depends, I guess, on how geeky you are.  Of course, if you're really all that geeky, then you probably already know pretty much everything I've written on this web page.  So, maybe that's the acid test:  If you learned anything from reading this web page which you didn't already know, then maybe you really should wait for CIS version 4.0... and just use AVG's free edition as your anti-virus software until then. The problem, though, is that if you wait for CIS version 4.0, then you will have deprived yourself of being able to use its really wonderful firewall which is (and has been for a long time) completely "ready for primetime," as they say.  There's no better free firewall than the one in CIS.  Fortunately, one can download the entire CIS suite, but only use whichever part of it that one wishes.  For example, one can totally turn off the anti-virus part of CIS, but use the firewall and HIPS parts; or one can turn off the HIPS part and anti-virus parts, but use just the firewall; or one can turn off the... well... I think you get the picture.  Any one, two or all three parts of CIS can be used or not used, at the user's option... turned on or off, at will. So, then, even if you think maybe you're not up to the technical challenges of CIS's HIPS component; and even if you think that maybe AVG's anti-virus/anti-spyware would be better for those functions, you can (and should) still download CIS and simply use just the firewall part of it... easily turning completely off the anti-virus and the HIPS components.  And that, in fact, is my recommendation, regardless:  That no matter what else from this page you decide to use, your firewall should be the firewall part of Comodo Internet Security.  I used to recommend the free ZoneAlarm firewall, but it can no longer hold a candle to the firewall part of the Comodo product.  So, no matter what, you should still download and install Comodo, even if you would rather use AVG for anti-virus and anti-spyware. But, of course, again, I'm not recommending that you use AVG at all.  I say that you should use all three parts of CIS.  If the HIPS part of CIS is too confusing to you, then fine... turn it off and just use the firewall and anti-virus parts.  AVG's anti-virus isn't sufficiently better (or maybe not better at all) than the anti-virus part of CIS to warrant downloading and running AVG instead... or so, at least, it is my opinion.  I'd say go ahead an download and install CIS now, and if its HIPS (Defense+) component is confusing, then just turn it off until the new CIS version 4.0 comes out with its much easier-to-use HIPS component. But you don't have to decide yet.  Again, just keep reading... Spybot Search & Destroy A spware scanner, with other nice capabilities For many years, Lavasoft's Ad-Aware Personal Edition was considered to be the best of the free anti-spyware products out there.  Then Spybot Search & Destroy (SS&D) and its almost cult-like following took over the top spot; and for several more years, that's the way it was.  SS&D was king of the hill (among the freebies); so, when I first created this page, that's what I recommended here.  And I still kinda' sorta' do... with caveats. Spyware -- almost more so than viruses -- has become increasingly sophisticated... so much so that it has seemed, of late, that SS&D just can't keep-up anymore... at least not as an anti-spyware product. Among free anti-spyware products out there, the much newer SuperAntiSpyware and the Malware Bytes Anti-Malware products (both also free... or at least both available in freeware versions) have become the new anti-spyware freebie market leaders.  We'll talk more about them further down, herein. Fortunately, SS&D is still useful for a few other things... and so I still recommend that one download and install it... though, sadly, not so much for anti-spyware prowess anymore. SS&D also has an interesting "innoculation" component... a part of SS&D which makes entries in the Windows registry to help protect one's web browser against a long list of potential exploits which can be secretly downloaded onto one's computer by malicious web sites.  It is SS&D's "innoculation" component that is at the heart of SS&D's "realtime browser protection" feature (yet another part of SS&D which makes it still useful, despite its anti-spyware cabilities having become comparatively useless).  Just so you will perhaps understand better:  SS&D's "innoculation" feature is little different from what Spware Blaster (also discussed further down, herein) does.  But we'll get to Spyware Blaster in a moment.  Let's continue with all the interesting non-anti-spyware stuff that SS&D can do. SS&D also has an interesting and useful "hosts file" component... a part of SS&D which will manage the Windows "hosts" file, which is a list of web sites and/or pages, domain names, IP addresses, etc., which are (because they're listed in the Windows "hosts" file) blocked by Windows from being accessible via its Internet connection.  Most Windows users don't even know about the "hosts" file, much less how keep it up-to-date and actually use it.  SS&D, however, will so easily help the end-user manage his/her "hosts" file, that that feature, alone, makes SS&D worth downloading and installing... even if its anti-spyware part is flat-out disabled. Finally, SS&D has its own HIPS-like component (similar to CIS's "Defense+" HIPS component).  SS&D's "Tea Timeer" is a credible HIPS-like feature.  Sadly, though, it's even more arcane than is CIS's Defense+.  If one would be technically challenged by CIS's Defense+ HIPS component, then one shouldn't even consider trying to use SS&D's "Tea Timer."   That said, Tea Timer is pretty darned good if one knows how to interpret its arcane messages.  Tea Timer's admittedly a little weaker than CIS's Defense+ in the area of detecting program launch/execution, but it misses absolutely nothing when it comes to detecting anything which any program tries to sneak into the Windows registry... which actually ultimately makes it almost as good as CIS's Defense+, regardless. So, then... bottom line:  Even though SS&D is no longer a strong player among anti-spyware products, its "innoculation" (and concomitant "realtime browser protection") capability, plus its "hosts" file management capability, make SS&D worth having... even if one doesn't also utilize its "Tea Timer" HIPS-like capability. And, in fact, that's how I recommend that people use it:  They should use Comodo Internet Security (or maybe even CIS plus AVG, if they prefer), and then also just the innoculation/browser-protection and hosts file management capabilities of SS&D, but not necessarily its anti-spyware capability. All that negative stuff about SS&D's diminished anti-spyware capabilites having been said, SS&D could also still be used for periodic whole-system spyware scanning.  It couldn't hurt the machine to do use it.  However, either the free SuperAntiSpyware or the free Malware Bytes Anti-Malware will do a far better job than SS&D at spyware scanning.  Again, keep reading... Javacool's Spyware Blaster A browser innoculation utility Spyware Blaster is not an anti-spyware scanner/destroyer like Spybot Search & Destroy (SS&D), or Lavasoft's Ad-Aware, or even SuperAntiSpyware, or Malware Bytes.  Rather, Spyware Blaster (SB) is more along the lines of an "innoculation" program... just like the innoculation part of Spybot Search & Destroy... only better. Like the innoculation part of SS&D, what SB "innoculates" against is spyware that attacks or enters your system via your web browser as a result of your visiting malicious web sites which try to plant nasty things on your computer without you realizing it.  SB will innoculate your copy of Internet Explorer, or Mozilla/Firefox, or Netscape Navagator (the three most-commonly-used browsers) against spyware tracking cookies, malicious Active-X controls or Macromedia Flash components, hijacks, dialers, and all kinds of other irritating and potentially harmful exploits.  By "innoculating" the Windows registry against such exploits, SB will stop them from ever even getting a foothold on your computer. SB is not a "sentry" running and the background and sitting in your System Tray (or Notification Area).  It moesn't monitor anything in realtime.  Rather, you download and install SB, then you manually launch it, then you update its database, and then you tell it to innoculate your browser(s) against everything in SB's database, then you close it.  That's it.  It doesn't run in the background.  You just open it, update it, use it, then close it.  Period.  And you should repeat that every... oh... say every two weeks, or so... at least monthly, no matter what. Even if you also use the Spybot Search & Destroy innoculation component, you should use Spyware Blaster.  And if you're forced to make a choice between them, the definitely choose Spyware Blaster over Spybot Search & Destroy for purposes of browser "innoculation."  It's that good. Javacool's Spyware Guard A browser home page anti-hijack utility Spyware Guard is neither a spyware scanner/destroyer (like Spybot Search & Destroy or Ad-Aware), nor is it an "innoculator" (like Spyware Blaster).  Spyware Guard (SG) is a "sentry" which sits in your system tray (notifcation area)... ...doing only one simple (but important) thing:  It monitors the Windows registry for behind-the-scenes attempts by malicious software and/or browser exploits to change the browser's default home page behind the user's back, without his/her permission. And that's pretty much all it does.  No more. NOTE:  I no longer recommend Spyware Guard; and I have personally standardized on SuperAntiSpyware for that function instead.  What Spyware Guard does isn't SuperAntiSpyware's only capability, of course (as you'll learn further down herein); but it just so happens that SuperAntiSpyware, if properly configured to auto-start with Windows and then sit in the system tray, will also perform the very same job that Spyware Guard performs.  And since I most strongly recommend that everyone download, install and use SuperAntiSpyware (which, again, you'll learn more about further down, herein), it's easiest to just stop using Spyware Guard altogether and let SuperAntiSpyware handle its task instead.  That said, I'm leaving this part of the article here just so the reader can learn why monitoring for browser hijacks is so darned important. Hijacking your browser's default home page is one of the first things which malware/exploits try to do whenever they manage to sneak themselves onto your computer.  They do this so they can force you onto the web site of their choosing whenever you next open your browser (or click on its "Home Page" button). And, in variably, said web site (of the malware/exploit's choosing) contains even more evil crap which tries to sneak itself onto your computer whenever you visit it... ...hence the need for you to know whenever anything is trying to hijack your browser's default home page... and/or to allow you to prevent same if you're warned (by SG) that it's happening. Monitoring it in realtime is important, too, because if SG tells you that something's trying to hijack your browser's default home page, then it's a sure bet that your machine has been infected by something nasty which you'll want to use one or more of the other products mentioned on this page to remove... and fast.  So, all in all, having SG sitting, quietly, in your system tray, watching for something -- anything -- to try and change your browser's default home page is a good thing. The problem is that SG hasn't been updated since 2004... which would normally be alarming except that a utility like SG doesn't really need to be updated all that often.  Only if the part of the Windows registry where the browser gets innoculated were to happen to change would any sort of update to SG really be required.  And throughout all versions of Windows from Windows 95 through Vista (and I'm almost certain also Windows 7), the part of the Windows registry where browser innoculations happen has pretty much stayed the same for years... hence the reason that SG hasn't been updated since 2004. That said, I dunno 'bout you, but it still bothers me that there hasn't been a change to SG in so many years.  That's simply antithetical to security software, just generally.  But there's an even better reason not to choose SG:  As it turns out, the SuperAntiSpyware product which I'm about to tell you about will, if properly configured, do exactly the same thing as SG does... and SuperAntiSpyware is updated almost daily! So, the bottom line is that even though I've always loved Spyware Guard, and even though it would be a perfectly good thing for you to go ahead and use and standardize upon as your browser hijack protection tool, I think that once you're read about the newer SuperAntiSpyware product, you'll decide to let handle Spyware Guard's job instead.  Keep reading, and see if you agree... SuperAntiSpyware and Malware Bytes Anti-Malware Spyware (and other exploit) scanners and removerss, and (in the case of one of them) a browser anti-hijacker These are actually two (2) completely separate products which aren't even made by the same company, and have nothing to do with one another (other than their names tend to get mentioned in the same breath a lot).  And I'm mentioning them here together because it is my strongest possible recommendation that everyone should have (and keep up-to-date, and periodically use) both of them... first one, then the other... at least monthly... preferably every one to two weeks. The freeware versions of both these products do essentially the same thing:  Allow the user to manually scan either his/her entire system, or just a specified part of it, for viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, dialers, spyware, and all manner of other nasty stuff. Either of them do it far, far better than Spybot Search & Destroy ever did; and the salient benefit of having (and periodically using) them both is that though either of them is good enough to be your only periodic manual malware/exploit scanner/remover, neither of them is perfect.  There will always be a tiny handful of things which SuperAntiSpyware sometimes misses, but which Malware Bytes catches; and vice versa.  One needs them both. In the past couple of years, these two products have distinguished themselves as best-of-breed among utilities of their type.  Even the freeware versions are as good as (probably better than) anything else out there for which others charge a fee. So, you can forget Spybot Search & Destroy for anti-spyware scanning/removal; and use both SuperAntiSpyware and Malware Bytes for spyware scanning and removal, instead.  If you use Spybot Search & Destroy for anything, just use it for its innoculation and comcomitant realtime browser protection, and also for its "hosts" file management capability... ...and maybe, if you don't also use Comodo Internet Security and its Defense+ HIPS component, then you might also wish to use Spybot Search & Destroy's "Tea Timer" (but just remember that CIS's Defense+ is far better than "Tea Timer"). Also, as first alluded to in the "Spyware Guard" section herein, the freeware version of SuperAntiSpyware, if configured to load at Windows startup and then sit, quietly, in the system tray (or the "notification area," as Microsoft now wants us to call it), it also performs the useful task of monitoring for changes to your browser's default home page (aka, "browser hijacking"). But wait... it gets even better:  By allowing the freeware version of SuperAntiSpyware to load at Windows startup and then sit, quietly, in the system tray, monitoring for browser hijacks, SuperAntiSpyware will also be added to the Windows Explorer right-click context menu so that you will be able to right-single-click on a file in Windows Explorer to pop-up said context menu, and then select therefrom the "Scan with SuperAntiSpyware" menu item, at which point SuperAntiSpyware will launch and do a fast scan of just the clicked-upon/highlighted file so you can quickly check it for malware and/or other exploits (without also having to manually scan the entire rest of the machine). The free version of Malware Bytes Anti-Malware can also add itself to the Windows Explorer right-click context menu (and be used in exactly the same way as described immediately above), but it isn't necessary for Malware Bytes to be running in the system tray in order for that to happen, like is necessary in order for SuperAntiSpyware to be able to do that. But wait... it gets even better... yet again:  By allowing the freeware version of SuperAntiSpyware to load at Windows startup and sit, quietly, in the system tray, monitoring for browser hijacks, it will also monitor (check its maker's web site) for updates to both itself, and to its spyware database... either which need to always be kept up to date in any case.  If SuperAntiSpyware detects that there has been an update to itself or to its spyware database, it will pop-up a little notification which, if clicked-upon, will launch its internal updater, whereupon appropriate updates, as needed, will be automatically downloaded and installed. So, by all means, download and install both of these products... ...even if you decide to also still use Spybot Search & Destroy for occasional periodic whole-system anti-spyware scanning; and even if you decide to also use it for its other capabilities discussed here. And even if you decide to standardize on AVG's free anti-virus and anti-spyware product, believe me, SuperAntiSpyware and Malware Bytes, together, will find things that AVG misses (which is yet another reason why I say just forget about AVG and use Comodo, plus SuperAntiSpyware and Malware Bytes, instead)! And even if you decide to follow my best advice and standardize on Comodo Internet Security for firewall, anti-virus and HIPS... ...you should still also download, install, keep up-to-date, and periodically (at least monthly... preferably weekly) use both SuperAntiSpyware and Malware Bytes Anti-Malware. McAfee Site Advisor A browser plug-in the warns of dangerous sites A new addition to this page is McAfee's Site Advisor product... a free, little browser plug-in (or "browser helper object" (BHO)) which, once installed, sits inside your web browser and monitors the web sites you visit, comparing them with its vast database of malicious web sites, and warns you if you are about to land on one which may try to download and install something nasty onto your computer.  Though Site Advisor both interrogates McAfee's database, and also sends information to it about web sites which it has never seen before (and/or which its users manually report), no personal information which could uniquely identify you is uploaded to the McAfee web site... so you'll have no privacy concerns.  The Site Advisor BHO simply installs into your browser (either Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox... or both of them, if you have both on your machine) and then just sits there, monitoring.  As it monitors, it also sends information about the sites you visit back to McAfee (again, without personally identifying you in any way). Whenever the Site Advisor button (on your browser's task bar) is green in color, the web site you're on is safe.  Whenever it's yellow, you should be cautious.  Whenever it's red (which also causes all kinds of warning pop-up, so you won't miss it), the site should probably be avoided altogether. You can configure Site Advisor to be more or less intrusive, according to your taste.  You can also configure it to put a little indicator next to Google search results, thereby rating and marking each web page link on a Google search results page according to its likelihood of being dangerous. And Site Advisor just catalog the sites in its database.  It massively tests them, over and over, looking for all manner of bad things about which you should potentially be warned. Several other security companies (McAfee's competitors) make simiar free products which directly compete with Site Advisor... ...like Trend Micro's Trend Protect, for example; or WOT, to name another; or LinkScanner Lite, or Finjan SecureBrowsing... just to name two more. The problem with those, however, is that this sort of product relies heavily on a vast database of web sites which the utility interrogates every time the browser into which it's installed lands on a web site; or to which the BHO feeds information about sites it finds which are not already in the vast database.  In order for a paradigm like that to work well, there needs to be a lot of users out there, constantly feeding information to the database.  It stands to reason, then, that the most popular and well-known of this type of product would be the best one to use... ...and the most popular and well known of them is McAfee's Site Advisor.  Bar none.  The others are popular, and good... but not like Site Advisor.  It's the undisputed king in its software category, claiming to have discovered, tested and rated better than 90% of all web sites on the Internet.  That's one huge database! So, then... I could not more strongly recommend that everyone download, install, and keep up-to-date a copy of the free McAfee Site Advisor... and then pay attention to, and heed, its warnings. It's a very nice, simple, effective little utility that can definitely keep you from visiting web sites from which you should stay away... not so much because of their content (although maybe that, too), but, more likely, because said sites are known to the Site Advisor database (either because of user reporting, or McAfee's testing) for trying to sneak malware or other bad things onto the computers of those who visit or download things from them. The Comodo Verification Engine Utility A browser utility that detects fake or "phishing" web sites This is a free product which is in some ways similar to what the McAfee Site Advisor product does... ...but in more ways, is not.  Whether or not the Comodo Verification Engine (CVE) would ultimately be useful to you, only you can decide.  I, personally, ,like it... but I'm not necessarily strongly recommending it for others.  Read on, and you decide... CVE sits in the system tray, running in the background.  So, unlike a BHO, it's running and visible even when one isn't using one's browser... and is useless unless the browser is open. Still, it performs a very useful function which, when coupled with what the McAfee Site Advisor does, provides a very potent little pseudo-suite of browser verification and reporting tools... ...tools which could very well protect you against really bad things. In a nutshell, CVE gives you the ability to verify that the site you're visiting (or to which  you're directed via a link in an a e-mail message) can be trusted... which is absolutely essential in the current Internet environment of fraudulent sites and faked emails. For starters, CVE helps protect against "phishing," which is when scammers build a web site that looks just like your bank's, and then sends you an email pretending to be from your bank which asks you to login to the fake bank look-alike site to thereon "verify" (whatever that means) your bank account web site login and/or password.  Once you've taken the bait and have logged-in to the fake, look-alike site, you will have unwittingly given the scammer your real login and password to your real bank account... ...which he will promptly use on your real bank's web site to summarily denude your real bank account of all its real money... often in just seconds, and nearly always in no more than just minutes.  CVE, however, can quickly identify fake "phishing" web sites, their fake login fields, fake logos/graphics, their IP addresses which don't quite jive with what they should be, their weird or flat-out faked little padlocks in the browser information bar which makes you think that the site is secure/ecrypted... and all manner of other things which will indicate that the site isn't real... that it's a "phishing" site.  At that point, CVE will instantly throw-up all kinds of warnings to stop you from being taken-in... before it's too late!  Nice. CVE performs essentially those same types of tests on other, not-necessarily-phising web sites, too... notifying you whenever you're on one whose "innards" aren't quite right... and which you should, therefore, fear to use (or even to stay on).  Once CVE is loaded and running in your system tray, then all you have to do to verify, for example, any logo which web sites like to display to convey trustworthiness and instill confidence in its visitors -- such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB) logo, or the Trust-e logo, just to name two -- is to hover your mouse pointer over said logo, and then, voila!, CVE instantly tells you if it's the real and authentic deal, or just a faked graphic put there to impress you. Again, it's not quite what McAfee's Site Advisor does... but it sure is a nice complement thereto... one well worth your consideration, I would think.  But, again, it's your call.  You decide. The "Hijack This" Settings Detection Utility A utility for detecting malware which tries to load at startup Download and install this utility, but don't actually ever use it until and unless you really know what you're doing. I know that sounds like strange advice, but "Hijack This" isn't for the novice or the faint of heart. Improper use of it can cripple your system and make Windows either unstable, or cause it to refuse to load/start-up altogether. The reason you should have "Hijack This" on your system, though, is for moments when you're on the phone with someone who really is expert (like me, for example, just to name one person), and said expert needs to know certain things about your system which you could then read to him or her over the phone from your copy of "Hijack This" (which, again, you would only load and use with his or her help and/or under his/her direction). To learn a little about "HiJack This", and then to download and install it, point your web browser at this web site, then follow the download link. Again, though, be careful: Install it, but then do not actually load and use it until and/or unless you really know what you're doing, or are told to use it by an expert (who will also tell you how).   WARNING:  Do not install and use any of the products recommended on this page until and unless you first uninstall any other similar products which may already be on your computer.  One may only have one firewall, for example, on one's computer; or only one anti-virus product.  One may use multiple anti-spyware products, as long as they're of the manual periodic scanning type (which the two recommended here are).  And one may use, for example, multiple browser innoculators, or even multiple hosts file managers (although using more than one of those is not really recommended, either).  Still, even with products of which there can technically be more than one, it's dangerous unless you know, for a fact, that they will "play nice" with one another. The products recommended on this page all know how to "play nice" with one another.  So, before downloading and installing any of these products, please uninstall any similar products from your machine which may already be there. Many computer makers put, for example, a complementary copy of the McAfee anti-virus software onto their machines as shipped from the factory.  That would have to be removed before anything listed on this page is installed and used instead.  And the "Windows Firewall" and the "Windows Defender" anti-malware utilities would also need to be completely disabled.  Please don't forget to do these things before using anything recommended on this page. THE BOTTOM LINE: Though you have been given choices on this page, here is the bottom line of what I recommend: First for foremost:  Uninstall any firewall, anti-spyware, anti-virus, browser innoculator, browser anti-hijacker, browser rater/warner, or any other similar type of software which may already happen to be on your machine. NOTE:  For an amazingly-effective (and free) uninstaller tool, download and start using the Revo Uninstaller.  In its third and fourth most comprehensive uninstall methods (which are user-selectable) it will not only run the product-to-be-uninstalled's native uninstaller; but then, when that's finished, it will go looking for files, folders and registry entries which may have been left behind, and will allow you to delete them.  It's a fantastic little utility. Download and install Comodo Internet Security and use it as your firewall, your anti-virus and your HIPS utilities.  Read the "how-to" postings in the Comodo forums, and read the "help" section of the software itself, to learn how to use the sometimes slightly confusing HIPS part of it.  In addition to allowing it to sit in the system tray and watch for bad things to happen (and warn you of same) in real time, you should also configure it to perform a whole-system anti-virus scan of your computer at least weekly.  Set it up, if you want to, so it happens in the middle of the night, while you sleep.   Download and install Spybot Search & Destroy and use only its "hosts file" management capability.  All other of its capabilities are optional... and so I say just ignore them.  Definitely don't use "Tea Timer."  If you insist, though, you could use its innoculator and real-time browser protection; and if you want to occasionally do a whole-system anti-spyware scan... what the heck...  knock yourself out.  It can't hurt anything... but just know that SuperAntiSpyware and Malware Bytes will do a far better job of spyware manual scanning and removal.  You can also configure Spybot to auto-update itself every week or every day (or on whatever other schedule you like).  You could even configure it to update itself, and then perform an innoculation... all in the middle of the night, if you wish, once a week.  If so, though, just make sure you pick some night when some other utility on this page isn't performing some kind of scheduled scan.   Download and install Spyware Blaster and use it as your primary browser innoculator... preferably instead of the innoculator in Spybot Search & Destroy, but at least in addition to it, if you insist on using both.  Remember to update its database as the first thing you do whenever you use it; then tell it to enable protection against everything in its database, then close it.  Do this at least monthly... preferably every couple of weeks... maybe even weekly, though sometimes its database updates don't come out quite that often.  Twice monthly is just about perfect.    Download and install SuperAntiSpyware and configure it so that it loads on Windows startup, allows its icon to sit and be visible in the system tray, monitors for browser home page hijacking attempts, puts itself onto the Windows Explorer right-click context menu, and automatically updates itself every few days.  Then use it to perform a manual whole-system anti-malware scan on your computer at least once or twice a month... preferably weekly.  Start it up just before you go to bed and let it run while you sleep (just pick a night that's different from whatever night you told Comodo to do its weekly anti-virus scan).   Download and install Malware Bytes Anti-Malware and just let it sit there doing nothing until you tell it to manually scan your entire system looking for malware once or twice a month (preferably weekly).  Like SuperAntiSpyware, start it up before you go to bed and let it run while you sleep (but, again, just pick a night when either SuperAntiSpyware or Comodo isn't doing its thing).   Download and install McAfee Site Advisor and use it to allow yourself to be warned about potentially dangerous web sites when you're using your web browser... then take seriously and heed its warnings.   Download and install Comodo's Verification Engine and use it to test suspicious web sites for authenticity, and be warned about ones you should avoid.  When you're on a site that displays a Better Business Bureau (BBB) or Trust-e logo (just to name two), hover the mouse pointer above them and see if Verification Engine thinks they're legit.  If it warns you that a site is fake or a "phishing" site, stay away!   Don't even bother using AVG unless you are absolutely dead-set against using Commodo's anti-virus (and, if so, then probably also its HIPS) component(s).  If you insist on using AVG, then fine.  It's quite good; and it will also provide real time anti-spyware protection, which Comodo doesn't provide (but for which deficiency the use of SuperAntiSpyware and Malware Bytes more than compensates... so you decide).   Download and install Hijack This and don't do a darned thing with it until and unless there's a problem... and even then make sure that you really know what you're doing before you dare launch and use it.  Either that, or make sure that you have the help of an expert.  Either way, make sure it's on your computer in case it's ever needed. And that's pretty much it, actually. The above-listed, described and linked-to products will, if you'll just use them, adequately protect your computer from the kind of harm that spyware, viruses, trojans, worms and other exploits -- as well as hackers, crackers and others malicious -- might cause. WARNING: You may be solicited by, or be tempted by the advertising of, other vendors who will offer free anti-virus software, anti-spyware software, firewall software, or free online scans of your computer for viruses, spyware, trojans, worms and other exploits. Do not be sucked-in by such offers... many of which are for products which are, themselves, little more than spyware or ad-ware or some other form of malware in disguise!  (Click here for more information) One of the most notorious examples of this is the heavily-advertised (on TV), yet completely good-for-nothing "Finally Fast" software by "Ascentive."  STAY AWAY FROM IT!  It claims to clean-up your PC by, among other things, removing spyware... but, in fact, it's nothing but spyware itself!  And those who got sucked-in by it and tried it report that  it's virtually impossible to remove.   Additionally, Ascentive, contrary to its advertising, has never been featured (at least not editorially), or hailed, or lauded, or in any other way written positively about in such impressive publications as Newsweek or The Wall Street Journal... that is, unless Ascentive's having once advertised in those publications constitutes being "featured" in the editorial manner which Ascentive is clearly trying to suggest (and shamelessly mislead) in its advertising. The products I have recommended, herein, are all safe, reliable, and reputable. In most cases, they are best-in-class of the free products that are out there. You may trust them; and you should trust few others. That said, there are other good products of their type out there... many of which that are also free.  The reason I warned, above, that most of the others can't be trusted is because darned few of them actually can; and also because I didn't want to go to the trouble of listing a lot of alternatives here when, in fact, I'm only recommending to the reader what I've here recommended. As with all things in life, some products are better than others. The ones I've recommended here are, in my personal and professional opinion, the best of the bunch. They may or may not be as fancy, or have as many features as some of the others, but they all do the essential and basic thing for which they were created better than most... and that is, after all, the whole point, right? Regardless which product you choose, however, please at least make sure that you become educated about spyware, viruses, trojans, worms, hacking, cracking and other exploits; then learn about the products that will protect you from them; then, most importantly, do whatever you have to do, using them, in order to both protect your computer, and also to make sure it's not part of the problem in the future. JUMP BACK TO THE TOP PART 4: Two last pieces of indispensable wisdom and advice you should take seriously Once you're done getting all the viruses, worms, trojans, spyware and other nefarious crap off your computer, you should know, and appropriately act upon, the following: 1. Always keep your copy of Microsoft Windows up-to-date. Windows comes, from the factory, rife with all manner of bugs and problems. The truth is, if you hired a programmer to write some software for you, and if what he delivered were as full of bugs and problems as the first version of virtually anything that Microsoft sells, you'd fire him in a heartbeat... and maybe shoot him, too, on his way out the door! Microsoft is constantly patching bugs, security holes and other problems in Windows; and it makes those patches and updates available to its users for free. But none of that does any good if said users will not actually download and install said patches/updates. You must pay attention to the update status of your copy of Microsoft Windows. If you have Windows's "auto update" feature turned on, then, depending on how it's configured, Windows will either tell you about an update and ask you if you want to download and install it, or it will just do it all automatically. If Windows ever asks you if you want to download and install an update from the Microsoft web site (and first make sure that it's really Windows that's asking, and not some exploit just pretending to be Windows), always do it. If you have the "auto update" feature turned off, then at least remember to stop by the Microsoft Windows update web site at least four times a year and get your copy of Windows all caught-up. The other thing that happens when you use the Microsoft Windows update web site to update your machine is that your copy of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express get appropriate and needed security patches so that known exploits cannot easily penetrate them. Please see item 2, below, for more on this. The Microsoft Windows update web site will first assess your computer and figure out what it needs, then it will recommend updates. To be safe, just always download and install whatever it tells you you need. That's right: Put a checkmark next to every damned thing, and let 'er rip! Oh, sure, you may not actually ever need the left-handed, scientific notion version of the Outer West Mobovian italicized font set with extra fractions... but what the heck would it hurt to have it on your machine, anyway. I mean... with hard drives as ridiculously huge as they are today, it's not like you don't have the disk space. Just always download and install whatever the Microsoft Windows update web site tells you you need... even if you don't actually "need" it. Just do it. Trust me. 2. Every Windows computer will eventually become "squirrely" or "glitchy" or in some other way weirdly and/or inexplicably slow or unreliable or will start locking-up or crashing a lot, etc. It's just the nature of the beast. The reasons why this happens are as many and varied as there are stars in the sky. Some of the time, whatever's causing Windows to act weird is serious and can only be resolved by advanced diagnostics and then surgical editing of the registry and re-installation of selected components... which is something that, typically, you should only allow someone like me to do. But sometimes -- most of the time, in fact -- the resolution can be a whole lot easier... and here's the little trick that computer professionals use to cure a squirrely computer of most of what ails it, most of the time:       Just re-install Microsoft Internet Explorer       and the Outlook Express email client. Yes, you read that right; and here's why... A few years ago Microsoft got sued by the US Justice Department for anti-trust violations because Microsoft so deeply embedded Internet Explorer, a mere web browser, into the core of its Windows operating system that it was difficult for browser competitors (like Netscape, or Opera, or Mozilla/Firefox, for example, just to name three) to be installed into Windows and, thereafter, to become the sole -- or at least the default -- web browser. Microsoft had made it so that Internet Explorer could not be removed from Windows, and one of the competitors' products installed instead, without somehow crippling Windows... or at least seriously reducing its utility and function. In other words, Internet Explorer, a mere web browser, contained core operating system elements without which Windows could not be all that it could be. So Microsoft's web browser competitors got the Justice Department to sue; and Microsoft lost that case. So, from that day forward, Microsoft has been making it easier for competitors' products to more seamlessly integrate into Windows. But that doesn't mean that Microsoft stopped including essential core elements and components of Windows inside its Internet Explorer web browser; and that doesn't mean that updates and upgrades to Internet Explorer don't fundamentally help/improve Windows itself. Believe me when I tell you that unless Internet Explorer and Outlook Express are both present and healthy, then Windows, itself, will not be healthy. Your copy of Windows must have a good, complete, updated and healthy copy of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, even if those aren't the browser and email clients that you normally use. That's right, even if you use Opera as your browser, and Eudora as your email client; or even if you use Netscape Navigator as your browser, and its component Communicator as your email client; or even if you use Mozilla Firefox as your browser, and its component Thunderbird as your email client... whichever Microsoft competitors' browser and email products you use, you must still keep and maintain a copy of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express on your machine if you want your copy of Windows to run smoothly and relatively error-free. You should never de-install them, or allow any other software's installation routine to do so... like it, or not. Windows machines become "squirrely" because core Windows components become damaged by hard drive crashes or errors; or because said components get overwritten by lower-quality and/or less-reliable core components during application software installations and/or updates; or because of spyware, viruses, worms, trojans, hacking, cracking and other exploits. Re-installing Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook Express -- even if those aren't the browser and email clients that you actually use -- will not only overwrite Windows core components with factory-fresh ones, but if you re-install a more recent and updated copy of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, it will effectively update/upgrade your copy of Windows, as well... thereby improving things in unexpected ways. After doing so, it can be amazing how quickly and suddenly a formerly "squirrely" machine will suddenly start running smoothly, or stop locking-up, or stop doing whatever else bad that it had been doing. Yes, trust me on this: Re-installing Internet Explorer and Outlook Express -- especially after your machine's been ravaged by a malicious virus, trojan, worm or some other kind of exploit -- can cause a seemingly miraculous improvement. It won't cure everything, but it can -- and usually does -- snap back into shape a Windows machine that has merely and inexplicably become... well... "squirrely" or otherwise "weird." And always remember: Your first stop after re-installing Internet Explorer and Outlook Express should be the Microsoft Windows update web site, so you can make sure that all the current security patches and other updates did not get damaged or overwritten by said re-installation; and/or so you can get caught-up on such patches/updates that you may have let slip by you even before you re-installed. So, there. I've now given you the best advice I have to offer on this subject. If you were a commercial or large corporate client of mine, then my advice would be a little different, of course. But for home users on their personal computers, the information and advice you've now gotten from this web page is about as good as any floating around out there. The rest is now up to you. Be a responsible netizen. Go do your part... and leave me alone about it... ...that is, unless you absolutely insist on contacting me.
Copyright © 1994- by Gregg L. DesElms. All rights reserved. Use by permission only. For contact information, click here. (Be sure to turn off your pop-up stopper!)