Community weekly poll: Some good tips to avoid viruses & trojan horses

Some good tips to avoid viruses & trojan horses

I've been pretty lucky in 2005. I've suffered more problems from incompatible software than from viruses & trojans.

Some tips to avoiding infection come down to the basic lessons, along with a few new twists.

1.) (The norm) Keep the OS, the AV & the Firewall software updated.

2.) Turn off networking (in the control panel) when not surfing. (You can't be a target if you're not online.)

3.) Keep critical information on external drives, and turn them off when surfing. (If they can't get to it, it's safer.)

4.) Use alternative browsers for surfing. (It's an IE thing, trust me.)

5.) Use two Anti-Spyware packages as counter-checks. (No one package catches everything.)

6.) When surfing, check the search results against their URL. If you think it's a bogus match, don't go there.

7.) Turn off HTML in your mail client (program). Most of the phisher email I've gotten puts everything in a hyperlinked picture. Text message, logo, bogus hpyerlink,...everything. Real businesses don't do this! It costs them bandwidth! So if you get a email from your bank, and it's completely blank in text mode, it's a good chance it's a phish! Delete it! And check with your bank by phone.

8.) Use your jumpdrives sparingly, and only on trusted systems. If your just copying information to someone, throw the lock switch to prevent back writing to the jumpdrive.

9.) If you know certain kinds of sites are risky, DON'T GO THERE!

And finally,

10.) Subscribe to the Anti-Virus/Security newsletters. (Remember, knowledge is a good thing.)


Hope you have a safe and prosperous New Year.