8 Rules for Safe Computing
If it seems like you’re having more troubles with your Windows PC lately in terms of spyware and pop-ups, you’re not alone.The scumbags releasing the stuff into the wild are getting more clever in how they are distributing the junk and are getting more desperate as Microsoft Windows slowly becomes more secure.
We’ve had lots of clients in our shop say they’ve been told just to reformat their hard drives and start over, a pretty drastic solution to this issue. But if you’ve not been bombarded with pop-ups that won’t stop, you have not fully experienced Windows at its finest.
Some of these jerks are hiding their wares as Microsoft updates in the Control Panel (Add/Remove Programs) so users are scared to erase them. But very, very few pests can be removed that way.
What has developed is sort of a guerilla war. A new pest comes out and the user community jumps into the fray and dissects it. Some kid in Finland or New Zealand will release a cleaning tool and the community will decide if it works or not. It works much like how Linux was first developed.
Few of these folks make a dime (the guy who wrote SpyBot, one of the best tools on Earth, wrote it and released it free as an homage to a would-be girlfriend). Very few of the real commercial tools do a complete job of swabbing up the mess that these pests have left behind. (One recent PC in our shop took more than 25 separate tools to eliminate completely.)
So what can I tell you to keep you out of my shop?
Cut out these rules and paste them on your monitor.
1. Nothing is free on the Internet. All of those cute screen-saver and smiley programs and the cute kitten backgrounds are harboring spyware. Ditto all the cute games. Don’t download anything from a non-reputable site.
2. Peer to peer (person to person) file-sharing networks like Limeware and Kazaa are full of virus-laden files. Use them at your own risk and after attending church regularly.
3. You can get a virus from AIM and other instant messaging programs.
4. Virus programs don’t have to cost money. Head to www.filehippo.com and download yourself one if you don’t have one.
5. Buy a Mac. None of the above applies to the Apple platform.
6. Run Linux. Little of the above applies to Linux, but you knew that already if you run Linux.
7. Never click anywhere on a pop-up. Close it with the X.
8. Use the Firefox browser.
WEEKLY WEB WONDER: How soon before there is a Flash game on the Web where Dick Cheney fires shotgun blasts at fleeing hunters? In the meantime, check out the Olympics at www.nbcolympics.com
James Derk is co-owner of CyberDads, a computer repair firm, and computer columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His email address is jim@cyberdads.com
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