Spyware Removers - So You Think You Are Safe From Trojans And Worms

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Did you know that you have an 80% chance of being infected with multiple pieces of malicious code?

Did you also know that free anti spyware programs lend a significant hand in the spreading of these malignant Trojans, Worms and Spyware?

Follow the story and watch a video now.

I am almost fanatical about keeping my PC as virally clean as possible. I know we have backups but if you get a bad infection that hasn’t been caught by your anti virus program it is not exactly a “Hit The Restore Button” type of operation to get back to fighting strength in a few minutes is it?

So when your broadband Internet connection suddenly becomes sluggish to the point of stopping, apart from making the obvious checks like has the dog pulled out a connection somewhere, we have to run a thorough virus and spyware scan.

People seem to have a total belief that a free anti virus or anti spyware program is the answer to all their potential infection problems. The harsh reality is it’s a bit like the King’s New Set Of Clothes - the program is telling you what you want to hear.

Have you noticed that these programs pick up a cookie and make a huge deal of it. “Malware Detected - Danger Will Robinson, Danger Danger!” To the unknowing this is a big deal but cookies are for the most part totally harmless and sometimes useful. We can rid ourselves of them very simply at anytime from our browser Options panel. The worst part about cookies, generally, is that if you don’t keep them under control they can take up a lot of disk space. They are no big deal.

What is a big deal is letting known malicious code have access to our PC when we are led to believe we are safe by using a free program.

Not all spyware is inherently evil. Sometimes we agree to let a company track our online habits or place advertisements within a program. This is how we “pay” for the program. As long as we know the extent of the intrusion and agree to it then there is no problem - a fair deal is no robbery as they say…

The evil stuff changes your computer settings without you being aware of its existence. It can record your personal information through keystrokes, document your browsing habits and all the data it has collected on you it can secretly email to its black hatted master. Additionally there are programs which just sap your PC resources until you grind to a halt.

How Does Spyware Invade My Privacy?

One of the easiest ways is for you to download it as a piggy back with another free program. Free music and video files are notorious for this.
TIP: Close any popups using the X in the top right hand corner. Clicking on any close buttons such as OK, Agree, Cancel, No Thanks or whatever is a perfect way for the hacker to start a program installing itself in the background.

It is wise to always assume that a PC is infected. I have had this mind set ever since I found a keylogger that had been residing on my PC’s system for a long time. Norton, Mcaffee and Trend PC-Cillin as paid programs and a host of free anti spyware programs had all missed this. The final straw for me was when I discovered a Trojan lurking which, again, had been missed by my present Firewall (paid) /AV (paid) /AS (free) programs.

I NEVER type a username or password or any sensitive information if I can possible avoid it. Using a program like RoboForm greatly minimizes the risk as you only have to enter your information once and it is securely stored until it’s needed and RoboForm fills in online forms at the click of a button. Passwords are generated on the fly. You Can Check Out RoboForm Here (Yup, it’s a free version but it is a fully functioning program limited only to the amount of passwords you can store).

There are abundant hard facts proving that nobody is 100% secure from threats and we must consider the following facts:

Free programs simply do not work as effectively as their paid counterparts. This may seem an obvious statement but it needs stating as quite obviously people are happy to ignore this fact as is apparent by the amount of free installations.

It’s all very well to have a free version of a product like a text editor where the upgrade has more features, but why use free AV and AS knowing that it definitely lets Trojans, Worms and malicious code infect a PC?

As stated earlier, even with the paid versions we are not fully protected all the time, so a free version must be less effective. If it was just as effective there would be little point in spending cash therefore there would be no business for the AV guys.

So if we accept the logic that free anti virus and anti spyware are not secure programs and we continue to use them we actively participate in the global spread of PC infections.

The shocker to all this was when I decided to test out a recommended Anti Virus program and it discovered in excess of 100 infected items.

Watch the video now, it’s around 6minutes in length and does a live test using some popular Anti Spyware / Anti Virus programs.

Did You Find This Content Worthwhile? If so, in the spirit of Web2.0 and keeping junk content off the Internet, could I ask you to… Add to Onlywire and also Plug It? … and if it’s not too cheeky can you Digg It? Thanks, it will only take a couple of minutes to vote.