I’m a pretty careful guy so I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to protecting my home machine from the ever increasing malware infestations we seem to be subjected to while surfing, downloading and uploading on the internet. Some might even consider it overkill.
Currently my home system is running the following freeware: Zone Alarm (3′rd most popular firewall among MakeUseOf readers), WinPatrol (system monitor), Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus, ThreatFire 3 (blocks zero-day attacks heuristically), SnoopFree Privacy Shield (anti-keylogger) and Spyware Terminator (spyware protection/removal). This is my minimum safety configuration; depending on circumstances, in addition, I will also use Sandboxie (a free sand box application).
Firewall and security applications (i.e. Antivirus) provide the ultimate in protection while you’re surfing the web, right? Well in a sense they do. Current anti-malware solutions are much more effective than they have ever been in detecting worms, viruses and other forms of malware.
So what are hardworking cyber crooks to do then, since it has become more difficult for them to overcome your more reliable Internet security defenses? How are they going to continue to rake in their dirty money? Well, how about using social engineering to convince you to download and install a malware package voluntarily?
Windows XP has a command line utility which will help you determine if you have spyware or botware running on your system. Netstat displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections.
I use this utility as a test, to ensure that the anti-malware tools and firewall running on my systems are functioning correctly, and that there are no open outgoing connections to the internet that I am not aware of.
You should close all open programs before you begin the following process, if you are unsure which ports/connections are normally open while you are connected to the internet. On the other hand, if you are familiar with the ports/connections that are normally open, there is no need to close programs.
There are three programs that are absolutely essential for keeping your PC safe. These are AntiviRus, Firewall and Spyware scanner/removal utility. We have already asked you about your favorite Antivirus software and Firewall tools. So this time we want to find out what is the most popular spyware removal among MakeUseOf users.
And if there are folks who still don’t use any anti-spyware program then they can see what is the highest voted one and hopefully give it a shot. While most spyware are fairly harmless- just tracking cookies that don’t really pose much of a security risk. There are some that perform seriously malicious functions as well.
Trend Micro HouseCall is a free online virus and spyware SCAN and REMOVAL tool. In case you do not have any spyware removal software installed on your system this can be a good alternative. Once in a while, I get spyware that goes undected (or detected but failed to be removed) through my current Anti-Spyware programs, usually when this happens TrendMicro does a good job at removing it.
