If you don’t live in the areas of Dallas, Hiram, Douglasvill, or Villa Rica and you need computer help then feel free to use my knowledge.

One of the most common problems with home computers today is malware. Malware can be in the form of either a virus or spyware. Of those two the most common is spyware. I will spend some time here to give you some ideas and resources to troubleshoot your own computer issues at home.

Anti-Virus

One of the most important parts of having anti-virus software is making sure that it is receiving definition updates daily, if not multiple times a day. If your anti-virus is currently expired then you are not receiving critical virus definitions. If you are in need of virus protection and want it for free then go to http://free.avg.com and install their free anti-virus client. There is also another free anti-virus client now called ClamWin. It is an open-source client so it won’t be the prettiest software ever made but has the functionality of premium anti-virus software.

Here is a list of recommended premium anti-virus programs:

• http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/
• http://www.eset.com/
• http://shop.ca.com/

Anti-Spyware

Spyware is software that monitors activity on infected machines and typically will send that information to its “home.” This can be used to obtain personal information such as bank account numbers, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc… Virus protection does NOT protect against spyware. To combat spyware install one of these free recommended applications:

• Malware Bytes: http://malwarebytes.org/
• Super Anti-Spyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/ (My favorite)
• SpyBot: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
• Windows Defender: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx

I will leave this page with an open comments area so I can give some tips, techniques, and news on protecting and repairing your machine from malware.

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