The truth of the matter is: you can never be completely secure! New features and functions in today's computers means more loopholes and security flaws in your PC. The 3 categories of security software pretty much revolves around viruses, spyware, and firewalls. Anti-virus software will figure out the old viruses, as new viruses find ways to circumvent new security software. 1st thing on your list is ANTI-VIRUS software. There are tons of anti-virus programs in the market today all claiming to give you the ultimate protection against the latest viruses. The truth is: a program is only efficient if it is constantly updated with a current virus database (a list of known viruses). In theory, an anti-virus program that was last updated on Monday would not be effective in detecting and removing a virus that was created and released on Wednesday. So many people pay money out of their noses for the top-notch programs but only download updates every other month or so. BAD MISTAKE! You should be updating daily if you are a power user! The best anti-virus programs will update automatically so you don't have to. 

Enough about how they work and on to the list of anti-virus programs that are good and bad.

THE GOOD - Free AVG. Great free antivirus from AVG available for download here. It's a small program, easy to install, comes with daily updates, and not memory intensive and slow down your system. Best of all, it's FREEEEEE!!! Free AVG will also scan your emails which kind of annoys me because it slows down Outlook a little bit when sending and receiving emails, but I'm savvy enough not to click on random files sent by spam mailers. There are tons of other free programs out there but for now, I'll stick to Free AVG. Next we have

THE BAD - this means ANYTHING with the words McAfee or Norton in it. I use to swear by these great security software giants but lately, I've found their software to be too secure. Working as an IT guy by day, and superhero by night, I will be the first to tell you that I can't even count the number of times I've seen the McAfee Suite or Norton Internet Security Suite stop a helpless PC user from the surfing the internet. These programs are outrageous, notifying you of every single event that goes on in your computer and even locking you out of the internet and networking when they become corrupted. These buggy security software are known more slow down your system and lock you out of your system than to actually prevent you from viruses. Maybe I'd give them a second chance if they didn't cost so much and make your system so complex and slow after installing their software.

Next up on the list is Anti-Spyware. Although, I am referring to the subject as spyware, I am really talking about spyware, adware, and malware. Spyware is a program that spies on your computer and tracks the user's behavior such as website surfing patterns and sends the information back to their servers. Although harmless in some cases, the program is hogging up your memory and internet bandwidth and invading your privacy without your permission! So many big companies out there have been constantly caught spying on their customers for this. Adware is a program that has advertisements in it and in most cases will force you to see a pop-up, like those annoying pop-ups that won't go away. Malware is a program that is simply looking to sabotage your computer in small or large proportions. Most spyware will have a combination of these evil characteristics. Believe it or not, the #1 and quite possibly 99% if not the ONLY reason why people get spyware, is because they WILLINGLY DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL IT THEMSELVES! That's right! All you people with spyware on your computer, shame on you! The spyware is there because you or someone else sharing the same computer willingly downloaded and installed it. Spyware nowadays has evolved to scary proportions. There are tons of FREE software out there offering all sorts of supposedly useful purposes like changing your desktop wallpaper, to giving you current weather updates, or free this and free that, etc. The software is free for a reason - it's so that they can throw multiple annoying pop-ups at you and sell that advertisement space to make a profit. Some spyware are really aggressive and will hi-jack your internet browser and force you to visit their site where they "conveniently" happen to be selling anti-virus software. Not only that, but many of these hidden spyware programs hiding on your computer will also open up backdoors to allow more of their brother/sister company spyware to install itself.

There are several ways to fight spyware. The number one way is to simply avoid clicking yes on any suspicious downloads that you come across when opening up emails or websites. This alone is better than any anti-spyware/adware program out on the market. Now of course, we can't expect everyone to be smart or computer savvy. Your grandmother will never understand the concept of spyware. In these situations, I recommend Ewido, Spyware Doctor, and SpySweeper. Respectively found at www.ewido.net , www.pctools.com, and www.webroot.com. All three are quite good at removing just all traces of spyware, adware, or malware on your PC.

Lastly, we will talk about firewalls. The simple concept of firewalls comes from network ports. There are about 65,000 ports that TCP/IP uses to send data from one computer to another computer over a network. Because no two programs can share the same port at the same time, each program sending data over a network will usually take up a different port. For example, your we browser uses port 80 to send http (web data) information from another server to your computer. All your programs like chat programs, or downloading programs will use another port, each program having their own port. Normally, without a firewall program, all your ports would be open allowing a hacker to use one of these open ports to send data in and out of your system without your knowing. A firewall is used to block all un-used ports and then prompt you every single time a new program wants access to your computer. In which case, you have the choice of allowing the program through if it is something you recognize like a chat program, and then denying access if you see that it is a unknown user trying to gain access into your computer. Firewalls can be in the form of software (a program), or hardware a router with ports automatically blocked. I generally hate firewall programs because they make my computer and internet-related work a lot slower by scanning every piece of information that tries to enter my computer. I already have a router which greatly secures my computer to a degree. In reality, if a world-class hacker wanted access into your system, the only way to be completely safe is to disconnect yourself from the internet. The price of being too secure is that we can't live the way we want to. It's a balance that you must decide for yourself between security and ease of use. A router in my opinion is secure enough even with the firewalls turned off. You might have a different opinion.

There is one last aspect of security. And that is physical security. Basic common sense applies here. Don't leave your laptop unattended. Don't buy a laptop bug that screams "Steal me! I'm a laptop!" Be alert when you leave Starbucks at 2am and walk to your computer in a dark parking lot. Do NOT, put a post-it note with your password and stick it on your monitor where everyone else can see it. Another great tip is to use FireFox instead of Internet Explorer will help you A LOT! FireFox doesn't allow ActiveX and many other things and doesn't have all the flaws that Internet Explorer does. By installing and using FireFox, you have saved A LOT of hassle. FireFox is also very useful because of the many downloadable plug-ins that make it more flexible than any other web browser out there. It's free, get it now!
 

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