The Awesome Five

The following list is protection software that can be found at various locations on the web. All of these links point towards MajorGeeks.com. If the following five applications are installed on a clean computer and the updates and scans are done on a regular basis, your PC will stay free of most infections and malware. Nothing in the world of computers is a rock solid truism so this is not a bulletproof defense. It's sure a great start though.

AVG Antivirus Free Edition

SpyBot Search & Destroy

AdAware SE Personal

SpywareBlaster

CCleaner

Now let's take a look at each individual application and briefly explore its purpose and some details about updating and the way it scans.

AVG Antivirus Free Edition: AVG is usually seen in the free version although many folks will upgrade and pay their inexpensive fee in order to gain more flexibility and protection. They have very good tutorials on their site concerning the initial install and maintenance of the program. AVG is not only great protection for your PC, it's easy to use. If you boot your computer and the AVG four colored symbol that resides in the system tray (bottom right corner of the screen) is grayed out, open the program and do an update. This usually occurs when your PC has been off for an extended period of time (like several days). This seems to be more apparent on dial-up connections because the updates are usually through by the time a machine on broadband completes its boot process. Remember, your PC HAS to be online in order to update. Again, it HAS to be online to update. ALWAYS, ALWAYS let AVG finish updates. You can continue to work while this is being done, but the machine may slow down a bit. On rare occasion the updates can be lengthy; just let it work. Most of the time they finish within a minute or so, depending on the speed of your connection.

SpyBot Search & Destroy: This is a super program that is very powerful. Patrick Kolla has given us this nice utility that performs many functions. I encourage people to donate so the program can stay alive. Spybot has many uses and the initial setup is important. Read the tutorial about installing . It's located on their site. If you need help with the initial setup please email me. Due to the vast depth of this program an explanation will take several pages and the way it is installed varies according to individual needs. Most people can read the tutorial and decide how to initialize the program. Updating is simple. Hit the update button and then go to the top and click the 'download updates' bar. One thing to remember is to always immunize after receiving an update. Click on the immunize button. If you have an update go to the top and click on the green immunize bar. It has a green + sign to the left.

AdAware SE Personal: From Sweden comes a nice program that removes a majority of malware from your PC. There has been some rumors that Ad-Aware is in bed with Claria and lets their garbage pass through the scans. Claria, the "wonderful" folks that bring you Weatherbug, Precision Time, Gator, Gain, CME and other such invasion junk. Anyway, Spybot finds these horrible things so 'not to worry.' Ad-aware also finds MRUs that are being called on to report into their respective parent company. If you look at the details you'll find Microsoft is usually the major culprit in this arena. MRUs? Stands for Most Recently Used. It is usually Word, Excel, Access type documents. Now why does Bill Gates need this information? He really wants to know what I've written? Let me state that this is actually legal. Read the EULA that you agreed to when you installed Windows or Office. Updating Ad-Aware is simple. Just click on the 'check for updates' line on the intital page and follow directions.

SpywareBlaster: Great program. Easy to use. Once or twice a week click on the desktop icon and do a check for updates. If it updates then click on 'enable all protection.' That's it. This program runs in the background and silently stops many types of malware from invading your privacy.

CCleaner: Great utility that cleans out cache, temp, and invalid registry files. If you install a program that requires a cookie to retain settings, be sure to go to 'options' then 'cookies' and move the cookie for that site from the left column to the right column. I always scan and delete files it finds and then perform the 'fix issues' function after backing up. I am disappointed in CCleaner though. They have started including the Yahoo Toolbar as default install and this sucks. Still a good program, but I am exploring other software that performs the same functions without dropping unwanted junk on your PC. Anyway, when installing be sure and uncheck the Yahoo Toolbar box. CCleaner will let you know when there is an update available.

Hope this helps. Be very careful about what software you use. Some of the "protection" software is actually malware disguised as good guys. Again, nothing is bulletproof. Tutorials with screenshots are in the process of being made available about these great utilities. You'll know when they are online. Recent requests prompted me to respond with the above information. Tomorrow we will go back to possum watching and beach house casualness. Got an opinion? Know of other software? Use the comments or email.

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."
-Albert Einstein