Education: The Only Way to Beat Malware

In the PC universe viruses, spyware, and other malware claim their stake on millions of users' computers unchecked. The only way for people to avoid malware altogether is to become educated and aware of the threats.

Whenever I help a friend who says their computer is slow, either spyware, an overflowing startup menu, or fragmentation is to blame. With the amount of spyware going unchecked on computers today, it's more than likely that I have to have to take out the digital garbage that's been accumulating without the users knowledge. A little bit of education could go a long way here.

Even a computer user with all of the best (and paid for) anti-virus, firewall, and spyware software can be hampered with a lack of knowledge to avoid the threats in the first place. The first thing I always recommend is Firefox. Hands down it's an easy way to avoid a lot of the types of adware and spyware roaming the digital hills. Firefox will not install add-ons without the user's permission (Internet Explorer 7 is starting to go in the right direction). This means you won't see a bunch of extra toolbars clogging up your browser that you don't remember installing. Firefox is not tied into the operating system in the way that Internet Explorer is. Using Firefox also protects you from ActiveX exploits and other security issues only affecting Internet Explorer.

I would guess that computer users who have teenage children tends to have more spyware, adware, and other junk on their machine. Teenagers who are fairly new to computers will accept a lot of the free downloads that come bundled with adware/spyware. They also tend to visit questionable sites that could install a drive-by download or expose Windows to other malware. Even in the Mac world, just recently a virus was circulating on porn sites. Read about the security bulletin from Intego.

The best way to avoid malware in Windows is to simply avoid questionable sites, download software only from reputable sites, run an anti-virus scan on any downloaded material, no matter what it's source, use the Firefox browser, keep a Firewall updated and running, keep Anti-Virus software updating and running, don't install software that comes with other "bundled" applications, and of course, don't forget to run regular anti-virus and anti-spyware scans.

It took using computers on a frequent basis, and even making the mistakes of a rookie user to realize what measures need to be in place to become secure. Sitting down to other computers that were plagued with spyware and adware taught me to recognize the threats and steer clear of the traps.

With all of these considerations in mind, I would go as far as saying that using a computer should be like driving a car, a test should be required to ensure basic competence before a person can use it. If people had to own "licenses" to use computers, millions of machines wouldn't become infected with viruses; it's very Orwellian and restrictive for millions of rookies, but it could help solve the security problems.

Learn more:

PC Magazine - How to Avoid Spyware
PC World - Think before you click and avoid viruses and scams
PC Magazine - Know your enemy
PC Magazine - Keep Your PC Safe