free anti-spyware

[perry 82]

anybody have a decent free anti-spyware that i can download from website?

i have been milking this old trend-micro spyware CD for a few years now, but they will no longer honer any updates. i downloaded the free AVG virus scan and its been great. my cheap butt does'nt want to spend the $70 a year on a macafee CD.

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,114]

Spybot search and destroy.

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,337]

Spyware? What's that? I have a Mac, so what's spyware?

But, seriously though, spyware and viruses was one of the reasons I went to an iMac last year. Spybot that Karl is good and there were a couple more that I tried. And you could consider a Mac. :thumbs:

[Nick 13]

Not sure how good it is but I'm cheap so for a while I used the Windows free Defender program.

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/s...re/default.mspx

Nick

[perry 82]

thanks karl, ill give that one a try and see if i like it.

ill look into what XP has also.

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,114]

The best things you can do to protect yourself is:

1. Don't go to suspicious websites (you know the ones ) If it seems too good to be true, it probably is

1a. Don't download free software which is usually sold for money. Many of these "warez" contain viruses, Trojans (like the horse silly) or worse. If it sounds too good to be true, it is!

2. If you have DSL or Cable get a router it hides your PC from the internet even if you only have 1 PC connected

3. Firewall, at the very least use Windows Firewall. ZoneAlarm is pretty good and Free

4. Virus protection - USE a good virus program AVG is pretty good.

5. Be careful with e-mail attachments. If you don't know who sent it to you, it is bad and should be deleted.

And finally, if you have kids you need to read up on how to setup parental controls on your computer and their websites. PLEASE DO NOT allow your children to have unattended access to the internet it is NOT safe for your PC and more importantly for them. There are sick bad people out there and kids are just too innocent and trusting. This is even true for Webkinz, those cute little stuffed animals. Wekkinz has parental controls USE THEM it will allow you to disable free text chatting. I can not stress this enough it is important!

There are free parental controls which you can download, router setting which you can enable to help keep their internet experience safe. Even if and especially if they are older. They might hate you for doing it, call you a bad Dad (or Mom) but that's just fine when they're safe at home when they're supposed to be.

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,114]

Oh, and by the way Terry, there are viruses which target the Mac just not many and with Mac becoming more popular we can expect to get hit harder. The saving grace for Mac users is OSX is based in Unix which has a pretty strong security system, but those hackers will find some holes!

Mac has builtin parential controls which allow you to limit what your kids can and can't do as well as log their websites. Sounds like spying huh? Well it is, and I am glad to do it.

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,337]

Karl,

Yeah I know. But, fortunately for the time being, most of the viruses and spyware and malware is being written against the windows based machines. But, you're right there are some out there now targeting Macs and there will be more as the Macs become more popular. And since the Mac vs Pc commercials have been so successful, Macs will be targeted more. And I think those ads may tick some of these malicious people off and provoke them to target the Macs. :thumbs:

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,114]

Even though I work for that company who coined the term PC (think blue) I love my Mac!