If you
are into tech as I am, it is a never ending cornucopia of new apps to try, new
gadgets to covet and new capabilities to instill that “We live in the future”
feeling.
Alas,
like everything though, there is a certain amount of housework to do. Without the drudgery of protecting our
devices and networks from viruses and attacks, the fun soon comes to an end,
and what should be a friction-free environment for work and fun gets bogged
down and aggravatingly useless.
Anti-virus
and their ilk are boring to think about. I’ve even put this column off for
months as I found more entertaining things to write about.
If you
are running an antivirus on your PC already, give yourself an atta-boy. Then go check to see if it is indeed still
running.
Many of
us get a free 90-day subscription to McAfee with our PCs. Problem is that after 90 days we get nagged
to pay for the subscription and, instead of paying, often just turn off the
nags.
If you
did pay, find the McAfee app on your PC and check to see when it expires. And
check too for the last time it updated its signatures and actually ran a scan.
If you
did not subscribe and it is not running, there are better choices out there
than McAfee. In fact, on the ratings
site AV-Test.org, McAfee is not near the top.
That site tests and lists the best antivirus software for Windows, Mac
and Android devices. Microsoft’s
Defender, a free tool built into Windows, is next on the rating list. If
nothing else, use Defender.
The No.
2 choice on the list of top antivirus apps is free. Avast does a great job
protecting my system. Yes, they want me to upgrade so I get the occasional
popup, but it is not too intrusive. I may subscribe now, but I wanted to
experience the free level for column purposes.
If you
choose to go with their paid level of service, it is $50 a year for one
computer or $70 a year for three computers[1] . There is also a five PC level.
AVG,
another well regarded antivirus suite, is No. 3 on this list.
The
paid suites also offer firewalls, although they do not call them that. Avast
calls theirs “Home Network Security.” These apps go a long way in keeping hackers
from penetrating your system and installing botnets or other malware.
Windowshas a built-in firewall. It is a good
idea to make sure it is turned on if you do not have any other firewall product
installed.
Another
useful tool in your battle against those with evil designs on your PC is
MalwareBytes. It is a free or paid app,
that scans your PC for malware, Trojans and adware, and removes them.
A app
like MalwareBytes is not perfect. It is a race between hackers and apps like
MalwareBytes, but use it, upgrade it frequently and ,best idea of all, buy a
subscription to it.
Only
download Malwarebytes from its own site or from Ninite.com, a reputable
no-malware download site.
Ninite.com
also has Spybot 2 an excellent tool for ferreting out tracking cookies that
tell advertisers and others where you visit on the web.
Be sure
to Google the reputation of any tool you are tempted to use.
And
never, ever fall for an ad you encounter on the Internet that looks like a
dialog box telling you your PC is infected.
The antivirus it encourages you to purchase is likely worthless and,
worse, might be malware itself.
Once
you have protection software installed on your system, put a monthly item in
your to-do list to make sure it is working. If it is set to automatically
update its signatures and run scans in the middle of the night, check its
history to make sure it is doing it and nothing has happened to prevent it.
If you
are to run the updates and scans manually, remember to do them.
You can
purchase the best tools, but if they are not running as and when they should
you are not protected.
Thank you for "finally getting around" to writing on this very important aspect. Very useful info.
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