Why You Should Ditch Your $49-Dollar-Per-Year Antivirus Software

Unless you've been hiding under a brick rock for the past 10 years, you probably know that if your windows computer is on the Internet, you need to have an anti-virus program installed. Virus threats abound, and without good protection, you're as good as dead.

The threat is certainly real. But dare I say it? It's not as nearly bad as most security companies would lead you to believe. These are the companies that simply LOVE users quaking in their boots, ready to bang down their doors with credit card in hand. A notable offender of the virus-scare-craze is Symantec, makers of the Norton line of anti-virus and security software suites.

Not to pick on Norton (the new Norton Internet Security 2009 seems like a marked improvement over it's predicesors.) No, Norton is a pretty good program. The problem to me is the $69 a year price tag. Now, critics will tell me that the price is worth it. No harm in taking out a little bit of "computer insurance," right? Wrong. If you know some important information about how virus threats occur, then you can stop almost all of them, FOR FREE. That's right. You don't need an expensive security program, and you certainly don't need to be paying every year just to be protected.

What you need is a set of strategies and best practices for keeping your computer safe. Follow these tips, and you won't believe how easy it is to keep your computer running at it's best.

1. Stop using Internet Explorer (IE) and start using Firefox. This is the number one tip for a reason. Internet Explorer is NOT a safe web browser, despite what anyone will tell you. Explorer has a feature called "ActiveX", which makes it very easy for viruses and other nasties to sneak through protections you may have set up on your computer. Firefox blocks ActiveX, as well as numerous other Internet security threats (such as blocking attack sites and forgeries that try to steal confidential information about you.) And with the Firefox plug-in feature, you can can even make Firefox even more safe (such as with this plugin or this plugin.) One more time, if you want any chance at all of stopping viruses from getting in, start using Firefox today.

2. Run a great free anti-virus, and update the virus definitions on a regular basis. Antivir Personal is safe, free, and outstanding at stopping most viruses. Give it a try.

3. Keep your system patched and up-to-date. This is another "biggie". Viruses often exploit known security holes in your system. How do you solve this problem? Make sure you install the latest bug patches! To that end, run Microsoft Update on a regular basis, and install the "Critical Updates" it recommends. Usually this will happen by default, but you should manually run Microsoft Update at least once a week, just to make sure. This step is like locking your front door at night- without these updates from microsoft you are just begging for someone to break in and steal stuff.

4. Avoid downloads from dangerous websites. A virus is just a computer program, abit a very damaging one. That means that somehow, it was software that got downloaded and launched on your system. Therefore, you need to triple check that anything you download from the Internet (you or your family, and especially your KIDS) comes from a reputable source and is safe to open. Only use safe download websites for your downloads, such as download.com, majorgeeks.com, filehippo.com, or tucows.com. I repeat, DO NOT just download from any website! This is extremely important. A website might try to bait you to download something "free". But watch out! It's not free if it ends up wiping out your hard drive!

Bonus tip. Specifically avoid downloads with these subjects: "free" or innocent looking games, ringtones, Myspace layouts, wallpaper or windows themes (think anything you might assume as "harmless" or "fun"), also anything related to software piracy, such as "crack", "serial" or "warez" websites. These are bad websites and should be avoided at all cost.

5. Avoid dangerous download programs. I use my web browser for nearly all my downloads, and so I rely on Firefox there to help me avoid problems. But if you have any other download programs installed, you need to be especially wary that you don't get a virus from any of those programs. Check to see if you have any "p2p" or "sharing" software (such as some gaming programs, or specific download programs like Kazaa, Shareaza, Limewire, or anything "Bittorrent" related.) Unless you REALLY NEED these programs for something you're doing, you should uninstall them. Especially the software piracy programs, as many viruses float around on those networks. Make sure as well that your children are not installing any of these programs without your permission.

6. Avoid clicking in links in email, or opening email attachments. Email is another place where people can slip up. I typicallyl go ahead and nuke any email from a person I don't know. You should do the same. I also don't use a desktop program for email (which removes another location where viruses can get in.) I use "webmail"- Yahoo and Google both have free and excellent webmail accounts. (I personally recommend Gmail.) Webmail clients often have a really great extra feature: they will scan attachements for viruses before they even send them to you.

7. Use a program that isolates your web browser from the Internet. Sandboxie can stop viruses completely, because it isolates your web browser downloads from your machine. That will stop any "drive-by-download" viruses from getting in (these are viruses you contract simply by visiting a "bad" website.) If you insist on using Internet Explorer (PLEASE re-read Tip #1 and at least TRY Firefox!), make sure you only run it inside a Sandboxie sandbox. That will keep any viruses IE picks up from attacking your machine.