Not more than a week after my last security post, and I have fallen victim to a Trojan virus, that opened my backdoor and threw a party with a bunch of his best friends. Just like the kid who lets just one person knows his parents are out of town for the weekend, before the night is over there every kid in town will be showing up at. Admittedly it was my own fault, I let my software definitions get way out of date. It’s been years since I’ve had a computer virus so I had let my guard down. So my entire Saturday was wasted getting rid of a “Trojan”, that brought in a “Worm”, that installed a “RootKit”, instead of blogging. While I was sitting at my desk restarting my computer every 10 minutes trying to backup all my files, I decided that I would share this important info.

Luckily I had my girlfriends laptop available at the time, to access the internet for resources and intelligence, otherwise I was about to just say F**K IT

Here are you Best and Free’est Security Tips You Need To Use:

1. Use Spybot

SpyBot Search and Destroy - This tool has been my number one “Go To” virus scanner for at least the past 5 years. Whenever a friend tells me they think they have a virus the first thing I ask them is. “Do you have SpyBot?” This program is also on a thumb drive I keep around for maintenance on the go.

2. Get a virus scanner

Avast! – After doing some research online this was the most popular free antivirus software. Currently I was using Avira Antivirus (free version) which is full of pop-up ads. I am convinced they care more about me buying their Professional Edition than they do about security. Earlier this weekend when I became infected Avira software did nothing to stop it, instead a red flag pop-up window came onto my desktop saying “You’ve just been infected with a virus, Click Here” Taking me to the buy their product screen….. Very disappointing. Also recommended was AVG but experts said that AVG software used alot system resources than Avast. One person said “Avast just works.”

3. Use Protection

SpywareBlaster – This program offers an added layer of protection when used with other antivirus/antispyware programs. This program accesses a database of undesirable adresses/programs. Consider this to be like the Department of Homeland Security’s “No Fly List” except for web browsing. Prevention is important factor in security.

4. Don’t use Internet Explorer.

Instead use Mozilla Firefox 3.5 – Firefox is just plain awesome. Plus they practically invented “Tabs”, which were later copied by IE. Internet Explorer is full of security holes and runs a lot slower than Firefox. If you don’t like Firefox, today there are a number of other options out there for you as well, including Opera, and Google Chrome. It’s important to remember just don’t use IE if you don’t want a virus.

5. When all else fails install Linux.

Ubuntu 9 This is what I consider the Final Solution. There comes a time in most computer users history when you decide its easier to start over than to keep trying to fix it. However in today’s environment it may be even easier to not start over at all. (With Windows that is) I’ve been waiting a long time now to drop Windows. Especially after Vista came out. “Just give me a reason” I’ve been saying for some over a year. This weekend I even had the install disk burned and ready when I finally found the fix I was looking for.

That’s all for today. Remember this, don’t let your guard down, or you will end up wasting an entire day of you life or worse, lose everything on your computer. Get updated, and do your best to stay ahead of the curve and you should be just fine.