Although we have already tweeted some three posts today regarding the Conficker worm, it is relevent enough to post one final time before tomorrow. This is a recap of the posts gathered throughout the day. Hope this helps…..First off, there is no reason to lose sleep over this as the industry states the likelihood of infection is relatively small. Minimally you can respond proactively versus reactively. You know the “ounce-of-prevention” is worth the “pound-of-cure.” Er, I think that is how it goes. Either way, you got the point.
There is no guarantee any effort to protect your system will work. You can run a tight ship, but there is always a chance of running into the Titanic’s ‘berg.
There are a few things you can do to protect your system as best as follows:
- Manually check your antiviral and spyware software to ensure they are updated. This is easily (and should be done manually from time-to-time) performed by selecting the “update” command somewhere in your program’s interface or toolbar. Don’t always assume it is automatically performing updates. We make plenty of revenue on those who figure their computer is updating until it blows-up.
- Another common issue is when the computer user is not aware their license for updates has expired. This is the case when purchasing a commercial version of software at Waldo*World or Worst Buy. It usually is up for renewal annually or bi-annually.
- Why pay when you can get it free. Check out AVG AntiVirus for a free edition. Obviously, if you already have commercial antiviral software and know for a fact it is updating then don’t install this. It will just add a redundancy of protection and slow your computer down.
- Now the killer app of the last two years (little secret of ammunition) is PC Tool’s Spyware Doctor. This package is offered free. It is a “lite” version. This just means it doesn’t have all the steroids as the full “paid” version. Remember to push out the update by performing the “smart update” on the upper-right part of the program interface.
NOTE: Both AVG AntiVirus and PC Tool’s Spyware Doctor are for PERSONAL use only. DON’T install it at work. It is illegal. Big brother may not watch you, but have a conscience about it.
