Inexpensive Ways to Protect Yourself Against Malicious Software

In the early 1990s when the BBSs were starting to decline and Microsoft was trying to compete with the Internet, Microsoft magazine ran an article about the potential danger of viruses from bulletin board systems. A few bulletin board systems are still around, but most have gone by the way side. Back then most system operators ran the files people uploaded through virus scanners such as the popular McCaffees. Believe it or not it used to be shareware. Those days may be long gone but the Internet has exposed users to many more dangers and indeed has made acquiring a larger and indeed world-wide selection of computer viruses even easier.

Not using the Windows operating system may be the best way to eliminate alot of threats on the Internet since it popular and in many ways less secure than Mac OS or open source competitors such as Linux. For most of us switching to either is not a realistic possibility although as Linux becomes easier to use and more software gets produced for it and drivers for IBM hardware start to be ported to the Mac OS, that may change.

You may think that you have to spend a lot of money to guard against threats such as spyware, viruses and attempts at hacking but that is simply not true. Windows XP 2 and later includes a simple firewall although for added protection you may want to install a different one not specifically targeted by hackers who simply do not like Redmond, Washington based company. Free and effective firewalls are a bit harder to find than spyware or antivirus programs.