Frugal Internet Safety

Not all virus and spyware protection is made equal. In fact some of the freebies out there are better then the ones you pay for. You do, however, have to be careful because not all the freebies are good. Some are even carrying viruses and spyware.

Alot of friends and family have called on me to fix their computers when the dreaded slow down occurs. These makers of malware are getting smarted and have created delivery methods that put everybody at risk.

Your first step is to be aware of the danger. Malware makers like to target large numbers of people. So it only makes sense that some of their most successful delivery methods come from the things that "everyone" is doing. Social Networking sites are a big thing to these criminals. Hacking into or releasing a Trojan into one account can gain them access to many more. They will go through your contacts, then your contacts contacts. Obviously many people can be hit in a small amount of time.

1. Be aware of where you are going, what you are doing and your computers condition. If you click on a link to watch some You Tube video and suddenly you can open a webpage and your computer has suddenly slowed down, then there is a real good chance it was the link. You don't know how many times I have asked people what they were doing on their computer before it started acting funny only to hear "I don't know".

2. Consider using alternative browsers. Firefox This is a highly customizable FREE internet browser. It is safer than IE, generally. You will have certain limitations (sites you need IE to access) but it is an excellent tool to use in addition to IE. I use it for when I am searching for things like freebies or online games.  There is also opera (an old school techie favorite). Finally Safari for those that want to taste the apple if you will.  There are some other options, but these are my favorites and what I would recommend to people.

3. Virus Protection - A lot of the programs that you pay for offer bloated programs that slow your system down and do not protect very well (cough*Norton*cough). What most people don't realize is there is a  really decent free alternative out there. AVG Free is just such a program. You get a basic virus protection without all the bloat. I personally use this on my sons computer where he plays a ton of online games, uses facebook, etc. Make sure you update it often and run scans every couple weeks.

4. Spyware protection - While a lot of virus protection offers some type of spyware protection I still recommend that folks get a separate program. Personally I recommend Ad Aware Free by Lavasoft . If you do a search on ad aware alot of bogus risky sites pop up so please if you dont use my link make sure your at the lavasoft website.  Make sure you update it often and run weekly scans.

5. For those adventurous souls who are familiar with computers I would also recommend switching to or adding on  Ubuntu which is an extremely user friendly version of linux. This is a great alternative to Windows operating system, though it is possible to have both OS's on your computer.

Remember the key is to being an informed consumer. We spend alot of money on our computers make it a point to learn how to take care of your system. It will save you both money and time in the long run.