SPYWARES
An unwanted software that gets into your computer as part of a software you may have installed or by duping you into installing it. It uses the processing power of your computer to display ads based on your surfing preferences.This makes your computer slower and vulnerable. Most anti-virus softwares are not powerful enough to eliminate spywares, unless you have purchased an expensive suite.There are free antispyware applications that detect and remove spywares.Two of them are Ad-aware from Lavasoft and Spybot’s Search and Destroy.
HACKERS/INTRUDERS
These are software programs that work in the background while you surf the Net and transfer information from your computer—the same way messengers and software updaters access the Net and slowdown the speed. Windows firewall blocks incoming traffic; you would need another firewall to monitor outgoing traffic. Gibson Research (grc.com) offers a good online port scanner which will tell you if your machine is transmitting out and is vulnerable to probes. Zone Alarm is another option. It monitors incoming and outgoing traffic as well as mail clients.
VIRUSES, WORMS & TROJANS
Viruses and worms are selfreplicating programs.Viruses spread to other computers through infected files, worms can replicate on their own. Trojans are deceptive and appear like normal files but harm your computer by deleting files or blocking access to services like an antivirus update.The best prevention is a good antivirus software, but ensure it is updated on a daily basis.
PHISHING
Phishing is a form of attack where a website similar to a popular transaction site is created and the traffic is diverted to it. Unsuspecting users end up submitting confidential information to these sites, resulting in loss of money or confidentiality. Browsers like Internet Explorer (IE) 7 and Mozilla Firefox 2 have inbuilt phishing filter. Enable it in IE 7 by going to Tools>Phishing filter> Phishing filter settings. Use McAfee site advisor or Phishtank checker plug-in for Mozilla Firefox to check the authenticity of the sites you visit.
BE ANONYMOUS, BE SAFE
You are visiting a website, the authenticity of which you are not sure of. So you want to protect the identity of your computer from the website. Visit suspicious websites through www.anonymization.net to mask your identity. Another option is a paid service available at www.anonymiser.com.
ENCRYPTION, THE DOUBLE LOCK
You have got all the softwares and follow precautions we have prescribed, but want more security — at least for select files in you computer. You can use a disk encryption application. This converts a section of your hard drive into a separate safe vault which can be accessed only with a password. Try a free copy of Cryptainer which has a maximum limit of 20MB per vault, but you can create multiple vaults. You can send encrypted documents as mail attachments. However, to decrypt files scrambled using Cryptainer you need another free utility called Decypher IT.
DISPOSABLE E-MAIL IDs
Spam is a menace that cannot be cured with filters. A solution is the use of disposable e-mail IDs. There are temporary e-mail IDs to log in to websites that require e-mail address for registration. When emails are received on these mailboxes, it is forwarded to your real mail ID, but only a fixed number of emails. Once the mailbox has received pre-specified numbers of mails, it will be deleted. Try www.trashmail.net. Paid disposable address suites such as Anonymizer Nyms are for those with severe spamming problem.
