One of those Karcher high-pressure hoses works well too.....particularly if the comp is left on during the clean...

My list...

NOD32 anti-virus
Sygate Personal Firewall Pro
Adware SE
Spybot S&D
SpywareGuard
SpywareBlaster
AdMuncher
WinPatrol

 :)

Set up your firewall correctly (cookies, referers script etc.), use antivirus and don't download or install 'dodgy' software.

Works for me. Adware and bazooka haven't found a thing in ages.

I do not get very much malware/ adware after Spybot S&D, and Ad-aware get done with my system. I use AVG free AntiViri or barring that I use trendMicro's Online Scanner. My real Danger does not come from without my system, but fron Within. Every instance of trouble has come from my Wifes' Machine, or my Daughters School, projects. You try and make a kid scan a floppy. I ask "Did you scan that Floppy?... She replies "Sure Daddy.."
KABLOOIE... there goes that machine and it always seems to be one of those bugs that crawls the Networks. In all the time I have been on the NET, I have been hit with a Malicious Virus a total of Once. I mean an actuall data Destroying, wicked Payloaded, Wee Beastie. I sat there and watched it eat my data, during a defrag of a Drive. I saw it there as an empty space, and wondered why the Empty space was in the middle of all that Data, and why Defrag kept jumping over said empty space and then restarting. Since that time I have been prone to the small annoyances of the paranoia that comes with the latest scare. I am coming to the Opinion that Viri are actually produced in Secret by MaCafee, Symantec and the other Big Boy Companies, to sell more AntiVirus Software.
I mean "Hey!" what a business model, and it is self fullfilling. Also of Note... My tinfoil Hat is in the Dishwasher today, so I am receiving those Radio Waves again, and God wants me to tell you "Be kind and Rewind!"

The best and safest way is to not go online.

I can relate Cygnus..... the only virus my computer has ever been infected with, came form my wife, on a floppy.   I don't borrow her disks now.  




[Message Edited]

lol you could not go online but I think adaware finds stuff in windows that installs from the cd.

Id rather get a rooter then software firewall.

Think il try Koasati's list its long so must work

I tell ya I have 2 routers, and will never make the same mistake twice... Always make sure that if you need to have more than 1 device in a networked environment, that they are of the same manufacturer. I have a Netgear Wired/Wireless Router, and my old, dependable Linksys (first Gen) Wired Router. They will work together, Barely. I have tried everything under the sun, to get them to talk together properly, but still the Network here at the house acts like it's own little fiefdom, when it comes to allowing each different segment to see devices accross to another segment on a different Router. I could go out and buy a switch, I guess..but then what would I have to gripe about?
I think routers as Firewalls are by far the best way to go. I am totally covered when I get scanned by GRCs' Port Scanner thingy... Now my wireless in not encrypted, I do verify Mac Addy's though... I am in a very small and remote rural location in the South, and the neighbors as to be so inept at computers that I feel secured by thier lack of techno gadgetry, and knowledge.

Pretty much any network device will work better if it is the same manufacturer.
DO they make switches with intergrated firewalls?

My List:

Norton Internet Professional(comes with a real nice popup blocker)
Norton AV 2004
Norton Utilities
Spy Bot Search And Destroy
Adaware SE
Spyware Doctor
Raxco PerfectDisk 2000
Advanced System Optimizer(super registry cleaner and registry defragger)
Registry Medic(another super registry cleaner)
Window Washer(Gets all the junk left on your system)
Tweak XP-Pro(super great tweaker)

Note: Some of these are advanced utilities and one must know what the are doing.

Plus I suggest erasing the contents of the Windows\Prefetch directory occasionally, and the Windows\Temp directory.

The only virus I ever got was a nasty mbr-virus, way back in '96. Still don't know how I got it, but it definitely wasn't from the Net, since I wasn't online at home then.

My recommendations:
- hardware firewall, any router will suffice for this task (currently a LinkSys WRT54G)
- alternate browser (never used IE, always used Netscape and later Mozilla)
- alternate mail app (Outlook (or as my friends call it, LookOut) is a honeypot to virii, currently using Thunderbird)
- spam/virus filter on your mailserver (the best way to keep things out is by not letting them in in the first place)
- ip-blocker if you're doing things that can't stand the light of day (I use ProtoWall to block traffic from known spam servers and spying corps)
- use you common sense in the daily operation of your machine, don't just click on everything you see

Heres my list
.AVG free along with Trend Micro online
.Hijack this (great!)
.CWS Shredder (great!)
.Webroot spy sweeper (another goodie!)
.Pest Patrol (awesome!)
.Black ice defender (Just got it and Have not quite mastered it)
.Router firewall (2 Wire)
.Mcafee Spam Killer
.Googles Pop-up stopper
.I clear my internet cache , IE History and Recent documents list once a day (I'm always On)
.I "killed" the Messenger and "dcombobulated" (disabled DCOM)

.I also take advantage of PC Pitstop's online services (great site! I HIGHLY recommend it!)
*I have Adaware free, and Spybot search and destroy but I dont find myself using them much anymore.
WOW! What lenghts we have to go to defend ourselves online! It's disgusting!

My list...

Wipe after every use

Crae....mbr virii were commonly transmitted via the good old floppies...

Books, Magazines, read read read...

I've over 400 IT books here at home and even more at the main office whie even more at various sites on loan.

One thing I honestly think everyone should have on hand is a book about Trouble Shooting and Upgrading your PC.

Read it, understand what you read and to do that read it without letting the author confuse you with TechSpeakanese.

Learn what the Motherboards Chipset does.
What an IRQ is and does.
What ROMBIOS is.

What a DMA Channel is.

How it all interacts when you push the power button to turn it on, what it is when someone mentions POST.

How the OS interacts with the Hardware, then, an easy to read and follow boo on basic Networking for Peer to Peer or LAN (Local Area Network).
Then something on WAN (Wide Area Network) and Internet, how addresses work, the hell with the TCP/IP Layers you don't need to know it. But how to secure your computer for sure.. Proxy, Gateway, NAT, Switch, Router, Firewall Hardware and Firewall Software...

some will probably think what I mention is over kill, and if so, then it is...

But as simplistic as this might sound...

You would not jump into a Car and drive through Rush Hour Traffic in New York City if you had no real understanding of how a car works or how to drive it safely. Or how to spot someone else who is not driving safely, why should Computing be any different unless your at work and there is an IT department that does this for you?