Pop Ups, Viruses, Spyware and How to Get Your PC Back

You're PC has been running pristinely for months now. Everything is just how you like it and you have a long of favorites. One day your browsing the Internet and you get a little box that pops up "You're PC is infected click here to scan now." Against your better judgment you hit OK and a new window opens. It appears you have 20 or 30 viruses and they want money to clean them off. What do you do?

Well first off, you need two things to keep to provide a defense against these kinds of issues. The first is a a proper update strategy and a good suite of anti-spyware, anti-virus, firewall and backup software. I'll discuss some of the popular choices and the impact they may have on your system. The second thing you need is to be educated if you open a browser window and you see anything that says your PC may or is infected DO NOT CLICK THERE your pointer should run screaming in the opposite direction. You could have an almost impenetrable system and click on something that could completely wipe you out for days.

Let's discuss your update strategy. If you're running windows then you need to have automatic updates running on your PC. Microsoft releases patches every Tuesday and you should either manually update or check to make sure your system updated. Also make sure and get Microsoft update which will ensure that you're getting updates for all things related to Microsoft like Microsoft office, windows defender, and other related software.

Most big PC manufacturers are including software that will check for updates that are specific to their software but how do you keep the rest of your software up to date? Sun and Adobe keep their Java and flash software up to date by using pop ups every so often. There are 2 pieces of software that I know of that can help monitor your system fir updates that you may not know about.

The first one I know of is Bigfix. It works kind of like a subscription service. Where you choose "channels" to subscribe to, these channels cover a variety of different software and actually will bring up items that Microsoft and the others don't push out in their automatic updates. It is included on some manufacturer's systems already for free. It used to be free for personal use but is now a pay service. Check their website for more info.

There is a free service that works similarly. Update hippo is a small program that scans your pc for programs in their database and checks if there are any updates available to you. It's a nice program that runs in the background and will notify you of updates when they come up.

There is another update service available. Belarc advisor is a website that scans your system and gives you a report based on what it finds. It is probably the most comprehensive service as it scans hardware and software letting you know if your drivers and software is up to date. The only downside to it is that you have to go to their website and scan manually.

Now that your system is all patched up let's talk security. Your first line of defense is a firewall. A firewall acts like a barrier between you and the Internet. It basically says nothing can communicate with the Internet except this list of programs. The biggest glitch is that people don't know what to deny and what to reject. I have been called out many times because the "Internet" was not working only to discover that they had a firewall blocking Internet Explorer. So, be careful what you allow and deny. Most firewalls have a feature that either says something like "remember this decision" or "temporarily allow" or "block." This lets you see if a program or feature stops working and you can easily restart the program and allow it if stopped working.

There are many different kinds of firewalls available, from the hardware firewall which takes some initial setup but is probably the most effective, to the built in windows firewall. Software firewalls are probably the easiest and most user friendly to use. And there are many to choose from. Windows firewall comes windows xp sp2 and above and iptables/shorewall is most oftenly used on *nix based systems. Other firewalls available include Zone Alarm, Sygate, Mcafee, Norton, and Grisoft. Several of these offer free versions and some of them come bundled with their anti-virus products.

Anti virus is a huge business and there are many vendors available to choose from. Some of the big names include Microsoft, Norton, Mcafee, Grisoft, Trend Micro, Avast., and many others. Out of this list they each have their strengths and weaknesses. Norton's bloodhound heuristics scanner is one of the best for catching unknown viruses. Grisoft is one of the better at finding infections (including root kits) and successfully cleaning them. I have used it to find things many others have missed. Trend micro has a free on line scanner that can be used in emergencies. I personally use it as a last step to make sure there is nothing left. It is always up to date with the latest definitions.

Anti-spyware is usually covered by your anti-virus as well, but you will benefit by having another layer of protection. The top dog in free (or paid) anti-spyware is Spy Bot Search and Destroy. It will find and block things that nothing else will. It includes a unique program called tea timer that monitors system changes. If a program tries to change something in your browser tea timer will notify you. The only disadvantage is that when you first install it or when you're installing lot's of software it will pop up, a lot. If you can get past all that, this method will keep most junk out of your system.

Windows Defender is a free Microsoft anti spyware program included with Vista but available for Windows XP. It's not the greatest in the world but it will monitor browser changes (IE only) and notify you. Also updates will come automatically from MS.

I could go on and on about the other anti spyware programs but I will say this much, your better anti virus programs will also incorporate anti spyware. Since most spyware acts very much like a virus anyways the two crossover a lot. There are other anti spyware programs out there, some for sale and some for free. Check with a reputable place like C-net's download.com for anti spyware and see what others have to say. Try it out and read reviews. Stay with reputable dealers and products. Be aware that there is software that is fake it will download more viruses and spyware than you can imagine.

I hope this article has helped you get a better understanding on this subject. I have mentioned a lot of good software and most it has trial or free versions for you to try out. Check C-net and Zdnet for more information on viruses and spyware.