6 Steps Towards Defeating Spyware on Your Computer

Spyware has become a nasty threat to computer security in this day and age. We should all take steps to defend our systems from spyware. Here are six steps you should follow to keep spyware from infecting your system.

Step one: Change your web browser security settings for the Internet zone to medium or high security level, or higher. On Internet Explorer, open the Tools menu and select Internet Options. Select the security tab, and then select the icon marked Internet. Click on the button labeled Custom Level. This will open a Security Settings dialog box where you can choose one of four settings: low, medium-low, medium, and high. Set it to medium or high. (Note, however, that setting it to high will disable many website functions, since websites will not be allowed to run scripts on your computer.)

Step two: Keep your web browser software updated. Check to see if there are any new upgrades or patches available, and download and install them. Unfortunately, until a bug patch or upgrade becomes available, your browser will remain vulnerable.

Step three: Switch browsers. You may choose to skip this step if you don?t like change. However, you should know that many security experts consider Internet Explorer to be quite vulnerable to security exploits. Reputable alternative browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, are considered to be more secure than IE. Switching browsers is no guarantee that you will not get spyware, but it could reduce your susceptibility to infection.

Step four: Have a firewall installed. Activate the Windows Firewall that comes with XP, or use a reputable third-party firewall application, such as ZoneAlarm from ZoneLabs. A free version of ZoneAlarm is available for personal use.

Step five: Re-examine your web browsing habits.

a. Don?t fall for fraudulent pop-up windows that try to scare you with a security warning or direct you to download software. Of course, there are pop-up windows opened by legitimate applications. But legitimate apps show pop-ups only after the software has been installed on your system, not before. A false pop-up warning tries to scare you about a problem in your system in order to get you to download spyware-infested software. Once you install the rogue software, the warnings stop, since they were never intended to help you solve the problem, only to get you to download the spyware.

b. Be cautious about downloading free software unless you know and trust the source. Spyware sometimes comes bundled in free software installation packages, especially for free games, screen savers, Windows themes, cursors, toolbars, and download managers. The free programs Kazaa and LimeWire are known for including spyware.

Step six: Install reputable anti-spyware utilities on your computer and update them often. Free anti-spyware tools you can use include Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware SE Personal, and AVG Anti-Spyware Free.

Want to know how to Protect Yourself From Evil Spyware Tricks? Get tips and information on how to make your system more secure at http://spyware.i-know.info