What Are You Looking At?

I've been getting lots of requests for help with viruses. My systems have been running fairly clean for a while, and I've been able to thwart the occasional computer infection with a small set of software packages targeted to go after different types of issues.

A big part of the issue is the browser you use to surf the Internet. Internet Explorer comes with all Windows-based machines and is probably the most common browser used. It's also the most vulnerable to viruses.

Firefox has gotten very popular over the past few years because it's less under attack than IE and it offers lots of useful customization options. Still, it's popularity has attracted the attention of evil doers, so there are some vulnerabilities here, too. You can abate some of the vulnerabilities with Add-ons, like No Script, which makes browsing a little less elegant, but far safer. It's interesting to try it for a short time just to see all the different ways and places that are potential hazards as you browse. It's eye-opening.

Google released Chrome recently, which is a very lightweight browser that appears to be fairly secure. That might mean that nobody has found the vulnerabilities yet, or Google has some rock-solid code. Chrome isn't as feature-packed as Firefox, but it does work quickly. If you're having difficulty with viruses, an easy fix might be to make the switch to Chrome. Click here to read more.

Actually, if you don't already have a spyware scanner/remover, you might just consider getting the Google Pack. This option will let you pick Chrome and Spyware Doctor at the same time. I recommend Picasa for photo storage/management while you're in there, too.

And again, here are my recommendations for different options for basic security (cleanup, anti-virus, trojan removal): http://fledglingtimes.blogspot.com/2009/04/free-internet-security.html