Don't let mention of "database" deter you — that's province of programmer. All you need do is configure your anti-virus program to regularly contact it's developer's website and download latest updates. Any anti-virus program worthy of your consideration will have a built-in scheduler to take care of regularly connecting to Internet and retrieving updates. Frankly, it is just too important a task to be left to frailties of human memory, so always use automation when it is available.

As for detection capabilities, most of major anti-virus packages are pretty much on a par these days. For me it's little extras that count, like ease of configuration, prompt and helpful support, etc. and of course cost. The specific brand of anti-virus software you use is up to you. My personal preference is a company I have been watching, using and recommending for a few years now: Grisoft, makers of AVG anti-virus. You'll find them here: http://HackersNightmare.com?res=AVG

If you are a home computer user you can use this excellent anti-virus program completely free of charge. The site layout and links change from time to time, but from link above look for a reference to "AVG Free". Note that there is also an AVG Trial, but that's a time-limited trial of commercial software. As a home user on a single stand-alone PC you'll be very happy with AVG Free.

Finally, a word about "security suites". I know I'm inviting criticism for this stance, but I must say I'm not a fan of security suites for most home or small business installations. A suite is a software package that offers not only anti-virus but includes software components that purport to tackle other nasties such as SpyWare, adware, etc.

In my experience you do not find best of each type of protection bundled together. Because a company may be extremely good at producing an anti-virus product does not mean they can do as good a job with an anti-adware solution. While corporate buyers tend to turn their noses up at free software, fact is that some of very best-of-breed security solutions are just that - free. If corporates with their big budgets and in-house IT support prefer to invest in complex and often costly integrated suites, that's fine. They have resources to handle anything that happens.

But for my money there's a lot to be said for implementing a series of much smaller, less complex, often free utilities that — matched task for task — can usually out-perform equivalent component parts of an integrated suite.

We'll be looking more specifically at adware and SpyWare threats in next part of this series, so if you are not yet a subscriber to this newsletter join now, or risk missing some very important information.

In interim, get yourself a good modern anti-virus scanner and, once installed, be sure to get into configuration options and set a daily update schedule. In AVG version 7 you just launch Test Center, click Scheduler button, double-click "Update plan" entry and select your preferred options. While you have Test Center open you might as well double-click on "Test plan" entry and set your preferred full-scan time. Mine happens in early hours of morning when it can't slow my work.

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With a hardware Firewall in place, there will be less questionable incoming traffic for software Firewall to analyze, thus fewer excuses for it to bother you with a request for a decision. And therefore fewer chances for you to give a dangerous answer.

This improvement in usability is not a minor matter. The difference can be so pronounced that people who install a hardware Firewall after having a software type in place for a while, begin to wonder if latter is still working, so reduced are “alarms” they have to respond to.

Another reason for using both hardware and software Firewalls is that software is … well, software. And software, any software, can be compromised. On other hand hardware Firewall, with very few exceptions, can only be “got at” physically – a baddie has to have hands-on access to Firewall to do anything nefarious with it.

Finally, both software and hardware can fail for any number of reasons. If a good software firewall encounters a problem it should be designed to fall back to some sort of safe mode, blocking all Internet traffic until problem is dealt with.

But if something should occur that forced software Firewall to shut down or that prevents it from loading at all (something many Trojans attempt to do), it is no longer an impediment to unauthorized data. You could well be vulnerable to attack and remain blissfully unaware of fact. On other hand, if hardware Firewall fails it will do so in such a way that access to and from Internet is cut off altogether. The hardware Firewall, by its very nature, can only fail on side of complete safety. If it's "not there", neither is Internet connection.

Well … does that make software Firewall too much trouble? No way !!! A good software Firewall that does its job properly is positively invaluable for its management of outgoing connections, which is where one of biggest threats to your security lies. A very, very strong case can be made for having both types in place. I do, as do most professionals with an understanding of, and a respect for, data security.

At very least you should install a good software Firewall on each PC for which you are responsible. A consistent Editor's Choice selection, probably most-recommended by IT professionals, and my personal choice is ZoneAlarm from Zone Labs. There are both free and PRO versions, with various licensing options. Even if you are eligible to use free version I do encourage you to at least give PRO serious consideration and look at extra features you get over free version. http://HackersNightmare.com?res=ZoneAlarmPRO

There is no space here to discuss hardware firewall recommendations, as most suitable type will depend on a number of factors. Seek advice from a reputable computer dealer or consult a more detailed resource such as my book "The Hacker’s Nightmare".

If this newsletter has been passed on to you by a friend, please subscribe to it yourself so you can be sure of receiving next part in this series, when I'll show you how to keep your sensitive electronic correspondence completely confidential, even if someone does manage to intercept your eMail.

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