Stop Adware, Spyware and Viruses!

I often get people asking about how to stop them getting viruses, spyware, adware and other junk being installed onto your PC, so I’m outlining a list of some useful information here that should help.

1. First of all, be very careful about you actually install onto your PC in terms of programs. For instance, I would recommend you NEVER install any of those Peer-to-Peer (P2P) programs such as Kazaa, WinMX etc. that you can download music and other stuff off - they always contain loads of hidden spyware that will get installed onto your PC - if you want to go down the P2P route, I’d suggest using BitTorrent programs such as uTorrent.

2. If you receive emails with any attachments that you are not expecting, be VERY wary, even if they appear to come from someone you know - they may just got a virus and it been automatically sent to you too! Also, be careful opening any emails from someone you dont know at all, since sometimes that is enough to activate some nasty viruses if you are using an email client such as Outlook or Outlook Express that gives a previews window for emails - I suggest you always turn off that feature.

3. Install Firefox browser to view webpages with instead of Internet Explorer - in the latest version - v7, I’ve heard that this has a been a good improvement on previous IE versions, I’ve had a play with it and it does seem better than it used to be, but still not as good as Firefox for me. Firefox has been much more secure and safer for you in recent years to be using, stopping lots of webpage popups, plus you can add lots of different “extensions” to it that give it new custom features and new functionality.

4. Install and use a good virus checker (I’d recommend using NOD32, dont use Norton or McAfee, they can work fairly well, but will suck up loads of your computer’s resources and make it run slower overall). Whatever anti-virus program you decide on, run a complete virus scan at least once a week, depending on your computer usage (I personally schedule my virus checker to scan my entire PC every morning at about 4am).

You can download a free NOD32 trial.

I’ve been that impressed by it, I am now an official NOD32 re-seller, therefore if you want to buy a license, then let me know and I’ll sort one out for you and it will be in your inbox straight away!

5. Download and install Microsoft Defender

Its a program that runs in your toolbar similar to a virus checker, but in this case its checking for dodgy software being installed onto your pc without your knowledge, its free to download and use, so it’s another good thing to be using.

6. It’s a good idea to install a software firewall to prevent malicious connections being made to and from your PC without your knowledge. Please, please, at the very least ensure that your Windows Firewall is turned on in the Control Panel!

You could also try running a separate program such as ZoneAlarm which will also provide more security and ask which programs to trust, including which can have inbound and outbound access whereas Windows Firewall only deals with inbound access.

ZoneAlarm can be downloaded for free.

7. Run programs such as Ad-Aware and Spybot regularly (again scan your PC with them regularly, such as once a week) to get rid of any adware/spyware/trojan nasties that do get onto your computer.

Ad-Aware

Spybot

NoAdware

A-Squared Trojan Scanner

Hope that helps, if you follow those guidelines, you should hopefully have far less problems with using your computer.