How To Protect Your PC While Surfing
Lately we have seen quite a few site reports, emails and forum posts about virus and trojans on the traffic exchanges. That’s why I thought it was time for another “public service” post with some tips, tricks and education.
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First of all… there will always be cheaters, hackers and other scumbags on the traffic exchanges and on the internet in general. So even though sites like Dragon Surf fight the good battle every day and try to keep your PC clean, we can’t give you any guarantees and neither can any other site despite what they claim… That’s why it’s vitally important that you take the necessary precautions to protect your own computer.
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What I’m going to share with you now is the combo I have been using to protect my computer(s) for the past 3 years. You don’t necessarily need to use the same software, but you do need to have all the components in place. A real benefit to my package is that it’s 100% free - Normally I’m a big believer in paying for quality, but in this case I don’t need to - So I can spend that money on advertising instead 
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Here are the components you need to adequately protect your computer while surfing, and my recommended software for the job.
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1. You need a firewall
If you are using Windows XP or Vista you already have an in-built firewall and in my opinion it does the job just fine. You need to make sure it’s turned on at all times and that you get the regular updates from Microsoft.
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2. You need anti-virus software
This is probably the most important component and I personally use Avast. The Avast home edition is free and all you have to do is download it and install it. Once you have it installed it you need to register for a key and that key will work for a full year (you can then get a new key). Avast offers all the real-time protection you need, it updates automatically once or twice a day. It will also scan and protect your email and you can do full system scans (I do that at least once a month).
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You can download Avast for free here … And register for the key here.
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3. You need spyware protection.
This is where most people get it wrong… anti-virus software is not enough. You also need to protect your computer against spyware and adware. Most free spyware protection only allows you to scan your PC but does offer real time protection. I have found one that does, it’s called Spyware Terminator and in my opinion it beats many of the paid solutions. Spyware terminator will work 24/7 blocking spyware before it reaches your PC and it will also automatically update with all the latest definitions.
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You can dowload Spyware Terminator for free here.
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4. My extra weapon
Even though I have Spyware Terminator I also use Ad-Aware from Lavasoft. The free version does not offer real-time protection so I just use it to do an extra scan once in a while to see if the other programs have missed something… The free version is great for this purpose.
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You can download Ad-Aware for free here.
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That was my 3 part protection combo and extra weapon. I can guarantee you that they will do a superb job at protecting your computer while surfing. But whatever you do, make sure that you have a firewall, anti-virus and spyware protection in place before you start your next surf session.
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Got any question or comments, feel free to leave a comment to this post.
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Soren Jordansen
www.DragonSurf.biz
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Or you could just use a Mac. I’ve never been the vicitim of any kind of malicious software in all my years (almost fourteen) surfing the web.
I’ve got all that… any idea how to stop the “phishing scam” emails?
I tried “reporting” them, but it seems like that made them multiply.
Funnel all your email through Gmail (google mail). They are very good at catching and filtering spam, phising etc. to you spam folder… without deleting what you want to see like AOL and Hotmail does.
I had 2 of the 3, so thanks for giving me the Terminator Soren. When I boot up i’m advised that i’m at risk because firewall isn’t on, yet when I check the control panel it says the firewall is switched on, bit of a contradiction there, so is it on or off?
If you are using the windows firewall and you have it turned off there should be a red “security shield” alert in your system tray.
The red security shield alert advises me that the firewall isn’t on but it is on all the time, i’ve never touched it.
If you double click the red shield it should open a window where you can turn the firewall on. If not you can turn you firewal on from Start => Control Panel => Windows Firewall… I’m on a danish version of windows so there might be some subtle differences though.
Everyone should download VMWare (http://vmware.com/download/server/)
Then install Ubuntu Linux on your virtual machine. Its Free!
You can download and install Windows Viruses and they do not do a thing. In fact if you have a virus and Windows will not load, just get a Live Ubuntu CD, put it in and the hard drive will mount and you can save all of your files.
Using a Virtual Machine is easy and if anything goes wrong you can just delete the virtual drive and create a new one. Also that gives you the use of Windows still.
I am with Soren, I would use Avast, Spybot, and Ad-Aware. Although if I had to pick the best anti virus it would be Nod32!
Thanks for the input Lance. I’m a big linux fan and that Ubuntu CD sure does come in handy sometimes.
Good Day EXpert, I fell lucky that I located this post while browsing for spyware and adware software review. I am with you on the topic of To Protect Your PC While Surfing. Ironically, I was just putting a lot of thought into this last Tuesday.
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce