80% of Home Users infected with Spyware

[homecomputeraid]

According to this Ziff Davis UK article, "America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance, found home users mostly unprotected from online threats and largely ignorant to the dangers. AOL and the NCSA sent technicians to 329 homes to inspect computers."

"Nearly three in five users do not know the difference between a firewall and antivirus software. Desktop firewall software regulates which applications on a PC can communicate across the network, while antivirus software detects malicious code that attempts to run on a computer, typically by pattern matching. Two-thirds of users don't have a firewall installed on their computer, and while 85 percent of PC owners had installed antivirus software, two-thirds of them had not updated the software in the last week. The study found one in five users had an active virus on their machines."

Hopefully, many home users get help on our forums and aren't among those 80%! With cyber security professionals like Nellie2, we should all be aware of how important it is to protect our computers, and how to go about securing them! :)

For our new members, you can find Spyware info on Nell's Page in the Hijack This forum, and information on general networking and firewalls in the Networking Forum's Networking Fundamentals posts.

Sincerely,

Ted LeRoy

MCSE(NT/2000), CCNA, A+

Want to get rid of Spyware?

Go to: http://www.homecomputeraid.com/spywareremoval.html

[andsome]

This forum first led me toward Spybot S & D, Spyware blaster, A2' Adaware and Spyware Guard. Thanks to help on here, the worst that has ever happened is that I regularly get data Miner tracking cookies which Adaware promptly removes, a couple of items of malware which A2 removed, and the same virus at least half a dozen times in the same day, which Norton AV quarantined. THANKS FOLKS

[homecomputeraid]

I forgot to mention Antivirus resources!

There are 2 major free Antivirus vendors I'm familiar with, AVG Antivirus, and Avast Antivirus. I've used both, and my personal preference is AVG.

Sincerely,

[nellie2]

Gosh... :blush: it is a big internet out there and there are many like me who do what they can.

I am lucky because I have the support and guidance of the real experts in the anti-spyware community, without them this internet would have sunk a long time ago!

[Boris]

There are 2 major free Antivirus vendors I'm familiar with, AVG Antivirus, and Avast Antivirus.  I've used both, and my personal preference is AVG.

There is another reputable one -

AntiVir® Personal Edition for Windows Me (Me&98&95) and XP (XP&2000&NT)

http://www.free-av.com/

[homecomputeraid]

Thanks (Spaciba?) Boris!

That one looks even leaner than AVG. I like small apps (small for Windows Antivirus software anyway).

Sincerely,

[andsome]

I use Norton AV and Personal Firewall, and have always been very happy with them. This will get pops going.

[-pops-]

I use Norton AV and Personal Firewall, and have always been very happy with them.  This will get pops going.

No.

Each to his own.

If you can get along with those items of software, so be it. I am unable to, that's just the way of things.