From Ed Bott, news, reviews, tips & tricks about Windows, Office & other stuff…
The folks at Techweb claim that without SP2 or a third-party firewall, your computer will fall to hacker bots in just four minutes …
I’ll say it again: Tens of millions of computers are running SP2 successfully. If you try to install it and you have problems, that means you have an issue with your hardware or your software. In either case, it should be relatively easy to find and fix. That won’t be the case if your machine is compromised by a worm, a virus, or a virulent piece of spyware.
NewMexiKen spent umpteen hours this past weekend with a laptop infected with serious spyware. It was no fun I assure you. Get SP2, use Firefox, or get a Mac.
[Update: It wasn’t my computer that was infected!]
As some of you know, this is what I do for a living. It is job security.
I recently had a client pay me $300 for cleaning and updating services on a $400 PC. Go figure.
You must upgrade, run anti-spyware, never click OK at a website unless you are absolutely certain what you are downloading in not malicious. The single biggest issue I have with clients is the antiquated anti-virus software most people have. I try to explain; the software is only as good as its last update. That means daily! If your Norton subscription is outdated, renew it. I have never had a virus and I currently run AVG by Grisoft. This gem is free. As a side note; beware of most freebies on the Internet; they are worms, spyware, and or viruses.
Likewise, if you are an advanced user check out Tweak Manager where you can easily tweak the registry to better protect yourself.
Just because one has a MAC, or uses an alternate browser doesn’t mean they can be careless or are immuned.
John (see above comments) recommended AVG to me some time ago (many moons) and I have not had a virus since. And, as he said, it’s free, though you can upgrade for a fee, I think.