Alright, well, I'm a pc tech for a living, so I figured I'd write a little guide to help my fellow blades out.
Do you get popups? This is one of the telltale signs of spyware. Even if you don't have any signs, you probably have some kind of spyware. It comes into your pc on a daily basis no matter where you go.
To start out I would reccomend cleaning out your temp files at least once a week. To do this open up your explorer of choice, I'm going to use internet explorer as an example for this. Go to Tools > Internet options > click Delete Cookies, Deletes files (check the offline files box) and click clear history. This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to keeping your computer safe.
Personally, I run scans about once a month. The best thing to start with is basic anti-virus. I've used norton for years and have recommended it to all the customers where I work and sold hundred of copies. You can get the basic anti-virus, system works, and internet security, all come with the anti-virus, with the latter of the two having extra options. The internet security is nice if you have kids, but thats about it. I find the extra options like site blocker, and firewall cause more trouble than they are worth. Especially the firewall, theres so much propoganda out there that preaches firewall. I haven't used one for as long as I can remember, and no hackers ever stole my identity, or erased my hard drive. In my experience, a poorly configured firewall causes a hundred more problems than they solve. One of my favorite things about norton, is I have a copy of the enterprise edition, and I have it set up to monitor every computer in my house from my main pc, any time a pc in the house get an alert, it pops up and tells me. It also manages updates and nightly scans for all the computers.
Next is spyware, like I said before, we all have it, just to varying degrees. I'm going to list some free and easy to use solutions for spyware prevention and detection.
Adaware - Easy to use, and does a decent job, get it here.
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-...ml?tag=lst-0-1
Webroot - This is my personal favorite, does the best job, free to try, but to get full functionality you have to buy it. I've bought copies of it for every pc in my house, and have no problems, download a trial here.
http://www.download.com/Webroot-Spy-...-10598648.html
Trend Micro - This company sells their software, but you can get a free scan and removal on their website here.
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
Pandasoft - Another company that sells their software but has a free scan, try it here.
http://www.pandasoftware.com/ <- Click the scan now button on the bottom left.
I use all of these in conjunction every day to clean pc's up, and 90% of the time, using all of these programs together, clear any problems right up. I'd also be willing to help anyone with any pc problems you might have. Post here or drop me a pm! Keep on toking blades!
