How Did My Computer Get a Spyware Infection?
In my role as a computer grief counselor, I hear customer after customer cry out “How did I get infected, I’ve got “that antivirus program from the yellow box?” While I’m not going to make this article into a smear campaign about how I don’t like that antivirus program in the yellow box…or the red box for that matter, there are several other lesser known products that I see trojans get past on a daily basis. Keep reading and I’ll tell you the name of the antivirus product that we have come to know as the very best antivirus product available.
Virus FREE Computer
Most customers come in with a pretty good idea they have a virus infection. The truth is that only about 3% of the computers we see actually have a traditional virus. Usually it ends up being some form of malware, but not true viruses, but they will all probably make your computer very slow.
Spyware Prevention – Basic Introduction
Whether you use your computer for business or pleasure, if you surf the internet, I’ll bet that you have already been infected with some form of malware at one time or another such as: adware, bots, botnet , hoaxes, malware, payload, phishing, rootkits, scams, spyware, trojan horse, viruses, and worms. They are all unwanted software items that you absolutely do not want on your computer. You don’t even have to know all the technical names to avoid them. And just to keep things simple, most people have distilled these terms down to just “viruses and spyware”. We are not going to get into the technical differences other than to say that viruses replicate and spyware doesn’t.
So can we avoid them? Ever heard of abstinence? Just stay off the internet, stay off networks, and don’t insert and untrusted CDs, external hard drives or flash drives into your computer. That’s it! I just saved you hundreds and hundreds of dollars you would otherwise spend in the next couple years repairing your computer.
OK, so you wouldn’t even use the computer if you couldn’t surf the internet, and you use an external drive to save your files from work to bring home and work on them there. So lets find a happy compromise out of the usual spyware prevention tips in our favor where we can use our computer on the internet to the full.
We will clue you in on what we consider the very best antispyware and antivirus products, none of which have a high price tag. They are actually quite reasonable compared to what you have already been paying. Most of these tools are downloads and you probably won’t find them in a store. There will also be a few freeware tools to use as well, but the main course will be educational. It will focus on developing safe internet surfing habits, how to recognize potential malicious search engine results, malicious websites, their tactics and how to get out of a drive-by download.
We are confident you will be able to learn these techniques, even if you are a self-described computer illiterate. You probably know more than you realize anyway. We know this because we actually meet many of our customers in person at our shop in Hawaii.
So stay tuned for more exiting, powerful, spyware busting lessons. Some of which I would have to say would blow the whistle on our secrets of spyware removal that many of you may be able to do yourselves…for the most part. But know this, it takes a couple good years of removing spyware for a living to really do it thoroughly, to my standards anyway. But who gets off every water spot when washing their car, who gets an A on every test, who can draw a perfectly straight line…freehand. I think you get the point.
