Avoiding a hacking nightmare - viruses, trojans and phish

by David Bradley

I've been a science and technical writer for more than twenty years and so I hope by now that I know what it means to find a reliable source, one that really gives it to you straight. I rely on my PC for doing my job, any glitches or downtime can mean deadlines missed. I play safe when it comes to browsing the web and checking email, thankfully I've not been caught by a malware site nor a phishing email. Partly out of necessity and partly because I feel it's part of my job to keep on top of these things and to alert my readers to the risks. Staying safe from hackers and crackers, viruses, worms and Trojans, and blocking spyware, keyloggers and other malware from taking control of your computer (and so your data and logins, including bank logins) is important.

There are no one-stop shops for antivirus, firewalls and anti-malware. In fact, it's best not to rely on a single company or suite of programs for protection regardless of what the marketers and even your IT department says. A suite might be easier to install and update but once one module is compromised you've lost all protection. My current recommendations are for Windows users: enable the hardware firewall in your network/wireless router, enable Windows Firewall, install, run and keep updated Malwarebytes, install, run and maintain updates for AVG free antivirus, install and run Secunia PSI and let it find all the updates for your installed software. Also, create a secondary login for your Windows machine that has limited control of the machine and use that as your everyday login.