How to keep your computer clean from infections
Links to download all of the programs detailed in this guide are located at the bottom of this page.
Let's face it, we all worry about whether or not our computer is safe from infections that can be picked up through the internet or otherwise. In fact, even for experienced computer users, keeping your computer clean from infections is a full time job. So what better way to ready your computer for the worst than to get advice directly from The Techno Centre?
Confused by security terms?
Terms such as "trojan", "worm", and "virus" are commonplace these days. Although they may seem scary at first, once you learn what they mean you will be able to deal with the infection much more efficiently. You may have seen the term "malware" coined before, but malware is simply a blanket term for several different types of malicious software. To get the full definitions, click on the terms listed below to be taken to WikiPedia, which will explain exactly what they mean in simple and extended form. Once you understand these terms, you're ready to adequately protect your computer.
MALWARE - TROJAN - WORM - VIRUS - SPYWARE - ADWARE
MALWARE - TROJAN - WORM - VIRUS - SPYWARE - ADWARE
Prevention is the cure, or is it?
Instead of removing infections already on your computer and cleaning up the associated damage, why don't you just prevent infections from getting onto your computer in the first place? Well, although you can take steps to avoid infection in the first place (which I will explain below), there is currently no 100% solution to keeping your computer completely free from infections. So what you should do is take every precaution that you can to keep your computer clean.
What you can do to prevent infections from getting onto your computer
What you can do to prevent infections from getting onto your computer
- Stop infections from getting into your computer in the first place, using an early warning system.
- Make sure that your computer has an active firewall, again to stop your computer being attacked.
- Make sure that you have active anti-virus software, and that you scan every file that you download from the internet before using it. Real-time protection should be on, and you should do a full scan every week.
- Scan with specialist adware, spyware and malware removal programs. This should ensure that you have the best chance of catching anything that is on your computer, as all programs have different detection rates and you can never rely on just one program to keep your computer 100% clean.
So what programs do I need?
As I explained above, you'll need one of each of the following types of software.
Early warning system
The first thing that helps towards keeping your computer clean is making sure that you don't visit dangerous websites or put your computer directly in the path of danger. One of the simplest, and most effective, ways of doing this is by using a web ratings application, which will tell you if the website that you are visiting is safe or not. The three biggest, and most useful, web ratings vendors are McAfee (SiteAdvisor), Web Of Trust (WOT), and Norton (Safe Web). You may think that you are well protected by having just one of these applications, but that would be to forget the very nature of these applications - which is community information. Three opinions is better than one, right? Secondly, in this category, get a program that looks for the behaviour of an infection or attack, rather than relying on pre-loaded lists of infections. I don't believe this needs any further explanation, so I'll simply recommend one of the best programs for this - Threatfire.
A firewall
For most casual home users, Windows Firewall should be just fine. Windows Firewall is turned on by default, so you don't need to worry about this unless it's been turned off (and you don't have an alternative). Windows will warn you if it doesn't detect an active firewall. If you're looking for something more advanced, then I'd recommend Tall Emu Online Armor.I would recommend something more advanced than Windows Firewall if your computer is on a wireless network. Tall Emu Online Armor can have compatibility issues with some configurations, so also try PC Tools [Free] Firewall.
Anti-virus software
This is one of the most important parts of keeping your computer clean and secure. As well as scanning your computer for infections that are already on your computer, any good anti-virus software should also have a "real-time" scanner. What this does is scan all the files that you are currently using, and also anything that comes into your computer (such as downloads). It's almost like a second firewall, as a very basic analogy. One important thing to remember is that you should always stick to the big brands - as these are tried-and-tested by other users. It's quite common these days to actually find infections posing as security programs in order to dupe you into downloading them and installing them. There are many free anti-virus programs from big brands with scaled-down features, but if you're not a power user then this may not bother you (you still get much the same level of protection). I would recommend either Avast or Avira to the casual user, although there are many others - as well as Avast and Avira's payware counterparts. There's also AVG.
Specialist removal tools
If your regular anti-virus fails to remove an infection on your computer, then it's time to turn to the specialist software for help. Although I would recommend having this software installed permanently, and doing weekly/monthly scans, but with the "real-time" scanning turned off to avoid it clashing with your anti-virus software. There are many programs that I could mention here, but I'll only mention the best for each category of infection; malware, spyware and adware. For malware, I'd recommend Malwarebytes', as the name suggests. For spyware, SUPERAntiSpyware is a great program. And for adware, I'd recommend using a combination of Malwarebytes' and Ad-Aware (with real-time scanning off).
- Some description of an early-warning system.
- A good firewall to stop unauthorised access.
- Anti-virus software to scan for common types of infection.
- Specialist software to remove particular types of infection already on your computer.
Early warning system
The first thing that helps towards keeping your computer clean is making sure that you don't visit dangerous websites or put your computer directly in the path of danger. One of the simplest, and most effective, ways of doing this is by using a web ratings application, which will tell you if the website that you are visiting is safe or not. The three biggest, and most useful, web ratings vendors are McAfee (SiteAdvisor), Web Of Trust (WOT), and Norton (Safe Web). You may think that you are well protected by having just one of these applications, but that would be to forget the very nature of these applications - which is community information. Three opinions is better than one, right? Secondly, in this category, get a program that looks for the behaviour of an infection or attack, rather than relying on pre-loaded lists of infections. I don't believe this needs any further explanation, so I'll simply recommend one of the best programs for this - Threatfire.
A firewall
For most casual home users, Windows Firewall should be just fine. Windows Firewall is turned on by default, so you don't need to worry about this unless it's been turned off (and you don't have an alternative). Windows will warn you if it doesn't detect an active firewall. If you're looking for something more advanced, then I'd recommend Tall Emu Online Armor.I would recommend something more advanced than Windows Firewall if your computer is on a wireless network. Tall Emu Online Armor can have compatibility issues with some configurations, so also try PC Tools [Free] Firewall.
Anti-virus software
This is one of the most important parts of keeping your computer clean and secure. As well as scanning your computer for infections that are already on your computer, any good anti-virus software should also have a "real-time" scanner. What this does is scan all the files that you are currently using, and also anything that comes into your computer (such as downloads). It's almost like a second firewall, as a very basic analogy. One important thing to remember is that you should always stick to the big brands - as these are tried-and-tested by other users. It's quite common these days to actually find infections posing as security programs in order to dupe you into downloading them and installing them. There are many free anti-virus programs from big brands with scaled-down features, but if you're not a power user then this may not bother you (you still get much the same level of protection). I would recommend either Avast or Avira to the casual user, although there are many others - as well as Avast and Avira's payware counterparts. There's also AVG.
Specialist removal tools
If your regular anti-virus fails to remove an infection on your computer, then it's time to turn to the specialist software for help. Although I would recommend having this software installed permanently, and doing weekly/monthly scans, but with the "real-time" scanning turned off to avoid it clashing with your anti-virus software. There are many programs that I could mention here, but I'll only mention the best for each category of infection; malware, spyware and adware. For malware, I'd recommend Malwarebytes', as the name suggests. For spyware, SUPERAntiSpyware is a great program. And for adware, I'd recommend using a combination of Malwarebytes' and Ad-Aware (with real-time scanning off).
Advanced techniques
This guide is meant as a basic guide covering the very fundamentals of security, so advanced techniques will not be covered here. However, I would advise that you take a look at freepcsecurity.co.uk , which is not affiliated with The Techno Centre in any way but is a very trustworthy and prolific security site. You will find a broad range of advanced security information on this website, which should help you broaden your knowledge further than the scope of this basic guide.
DOWNLOAD LIST
All of this software is useless unless you regularly update it.
Early warning system
Web Of Trust: http://www.mywot.com/
McAfee SiteAdvisor: http://www.siteadvisor.com/
Norton SafeWeb: http://safeweb.norton.com/
A firewall
Windows Firewall: Included in Windows - does not require a download.
Tall Emu Online Armor: http://www.tallemu.com/
PC Tools [Free] Firewall: http://www.pctools.com/
Anti-virus software
Avast: http://www.avast.com/
Avira: http://www.free-av.com/
AVG: http://free.avg.com/
Specialist removal tools
Malwarebytes': http://www.malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/
Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoft.com/
Web Of Trust: http://www.mywot.com/
McAfee SiteAdvisor: http://www.siteadvisor.com/
Norton SafeWeb: http://safeweb.norton.com/
A firewall
Windows Firewall: Included in Windows - does not require a download.
Tall Emu Online Armor: http://www.tallemu.com/
PC Tools [Free] Firewall: http://www.pctools.com/
Anti-virus software
Avast: http://www.avast.com/
Avira: http://www.free-av.com/
AVG: http://free.avg.com/
Specialist removal tools
Malwarebytes': http://www.malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/
Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoft.com/