I could go on and on for hours about all kinds of things to do to clean up your computer from viruses, spyware, trojans, and whatever other “nasty” habit is creeping around the internet. I could, but I won’t. Instead I’ll tell you what to do once you’ve got your computer up and running the way it should be to help prevent future occurrences.

The game plan

It is always best to start doing these things immediately following a complete operating system reinstall, but that doesn’t mean they are useless doing it later. The goal is simple. To prevent an unwanted piece of software from infecting your computer and causing damage to your system. The game plan is to catch them before they can cause damage OR stop them from causing more damage.

The tools

The tools are all free to download. You need to take the time to figure out how to use them properly or they won’t do you any good at all. Of course you should be able to use all of them after about 15-20 minutes of “practice”. In otherwords you really don’t have much of an excuse for not using them.

Web Browser

Download Firefox and use it whenever possible. Internet Explorer has improved greatly compared to what it was and if this were 5 years ago it would be just fine. But it’s not 5 years ago, and “compared to what it was” isn’t really a compliment, because it was absolute shit and now it’s just a bad smelling fart. Bad is bad. Firefox is good. Get firefox.

Anti-virus

I recommend sticking with the tried and true. Personally I use Avast Home, but AVG, and ClamWin are great tools as well. Here’s a quick hint (because I see just the opposite happen every day) not only do you need to install an anti-virus solution, but you also from time to time need to:

• (A) Use it
• (B) Update it
• (C) Upgrade it

If you don’t do all three of those things get rid of it because it’s not doing you any good and is stealing valuable resources from the viruses on your computer that could make good use of them.

Anti-spyware

Go with the tried and true standards. Spybot S&D and Adaware SE. Once again just like the anti-virus software you need to keep this updated and use it. The pretty little icon on your desktop doesn’t do anything if you don’t double click on it. Try running both of these at least once per week.

System Monitoring

Grab yourself the latest and greatet copy of Win Patrol from BillP studios. It slices, it dices, it scrubs the cat clean. Actually it doesn’t do anything. It just sits there. Monitoring your computer. Until it sees something out of the ordinary at which time it pops up a little confirmation window. The window says something like “Blah new startup program. Do you wish to allow?” (Click no unless you know what it is and is there because of something you purposefully did. hint, hint)

Sex and violence

Rein in the pervs and the psychos on your computer using a free web filtering service called K9 Web Protection. And if you like pervs and psychos on your monitor you can always temporarily disable it.

Hidden in plain sight

Last but not least is our firewall. A lot of people say that a NAT’d firewall is enough (routers USUALLY have NAT’d firewalls built into them), but for as cheap (free) as a great firewall (Comodo) is and as little resources as they take up on todays computers there’s really no excuse not to have one. So get one. And use it. All the time

Executing the plan

I hope you’ve eaten your Wheaties today kids, because we’re about to get our briches muddy. Are you ready? Good, here we go…

1. Download the software
2. Install the software
3. Run the anti-spyware programs (both of them, but one at a time) immediately.
4. Run a full system virus scan. By full system I mean everything. Now might be a good time to grab dinner…
5. Continue to run both the anti-virus and the anti-spyware solutions at least once per week
6. Make sure whenever you connect to the internet you are using Firefox unless absolutely necessary to use Internet Explorer. That by itself is probably the biggest defense you have against malicious software. So use it.

Spread the news

Yes keeping your computer running well really is that simple. It doesn’t take rocket science it simply takes using the tools that are easily and freely available. So tell your family, tell your friends. Hell call Al Gore maybe you’ll get to hear about the one time at band camp when he invented to internet. Either way tell people how easy it is. Or don’t. And don’t use the tools (or similar ones) I’ve shown you. Instead just keep the Geek Squads number handy and give them a ring anytime there’s a problem. After all how much easier is it to write them a check for $300.00 instead of spending 15 minutes taking care of business?

Is there other software I should check out?

Of course there is. In fact a while back I wrote an article about software you should have. A few were included in this article some were not.

One thing not included in that article, ok two things, is a program called Belarc Advisor which you should run when everything is up and working fine. It gives a complete list of everything your computer has both hardware and software. Always nice to have “just in case”. The other is Driveimage XML which will allow you to clone your hard drive (like Norton Ghost) for recovery purposes.

There you have it my quick and easy way to keep the Geeks at bay and your wallet fat(ter). Try it, after a few times of saving your own ass you’ll actually feel a sense of accomplishment. And then you’ll think back to the days when you had to call up your kid and have them come over to turn on the computer and you’ll wonder how you ever managed. But don’t worry, you’re not alone, a whole lot of us have been wondering for a long time how you ever managed.

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Tags: computers, online safety, software