NO … Stop Thinking Like That!!!

If you are thinking "Oh, Spybot is free and Ad-aware costs money — I'll use Spybot", you aren't paying attention. I was quite serious when I said: "sometimes one will catch intrusions that other won't, and vice versa". If you are only interested in stopping some threats — just ones you can stop for free — then you are wasting your time reading these articles. I promised to tell you facts, and this is a fact: You Need To Install Both Of These Programs.

Both Spybot-S&D and Ad-aware offer a number of configuration options and, as you may remember from anti-virus article, if configuration options are offered you should take that as a strong indication that you won't get most out of application until you set those options. Both of these applications offer quite a large number of configuration options, which may be a little daunting to some, but not at all beyond ability of average PC user. Ad-aware installs a User Manual accessible from Windows Start Menu (Start -> All Programs -> LavaSoft). Spybot-S&D has a tutorial available from program's Help menu.

Like your anti-virus program, it is extremely important that both Spybot-S&D and Ad-aware are updated regularly with new database information from their respective websites. If you need more detailed assistance with either of these very important defensive products, "The Hacker’s Nightmare" deals with both in depth.

For more information on products:

Spybot-S&D http://HackersNightmare.com?res=Spybot Ad-Aware Free http://HackersNightmare.com?res=AdawareFree Ad-Aware PRO http://HackersNightmare.com?res=AdawarePRO

The strength of both Spybot and Ad-aware is that they are very good at finding, identifying and eliminating certain types of nasties that have found their way into your computer — threats that your anti-virus program is probably not designed to detect.

There is another very important tool in this category that I always have installed on my PC's. Called SpywareBlaster from Javacool Software, this utility does not scan for and clean out spyware — rather, it's job is to preventing such threats from ever getting installed in first place.

SpywareBlaster also is available in a free version for non-commercial use, but I do not recommend it even if you do qualify. Like other applications we have discussed, SpywareBlaster must be regularly updated. While free version can be manually updated at any time, it has no provision for auto-updating. For a paltry $9.95 per annum licence fee, you can have very great advantage of scheduled auto-updating. Remember, such applications are only as good as their last update, and you certainly don't want to be relying on old data for your protection. http://HackersNightmare.com?res=SpywareBlaster

If this newsletter has been passed on to you by a friend, please subscribe yourself so you can be sure of receiving next part in this series, when we will look at a threat that is becoming very commonplace and which can cost you dearly — so-called "phishing" scams.

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For private individual on a home PC it is an unnecessary risk, and far from "relatively harmless". In my eBook The Hacker’s Nightmare™ I include a contribution from a retired FBI Special Agent who tells just how little information is needed to steal someone's identity. There is enough such information on just about any home PC.

For a business it's just plain crazy to ignore these threats, and possibly even criminally negligent. In many countries holder of data about others is legally responsible for safety of that data. If you store information about customers, suppliers, employees, patients, etc. data carelessness could leave you exposed to enormous legal and financial penalties. Exacerbating danger further is fact that often management is legally responsible for actions of employees, so onus is on business operators to take all necessary steps to ensure data security. Oh, and complaining that you are only a small business, a sole operator or just work from home is very unlikely to garner much sympathy when letter of law is applied.

By itself, regularly patching and updating your browser, operating system and other major software applications will not give you 100% protection. But it is a very necessary component of a sensible and thorough defense-in-depth strategy.

With specific regard to browser, you'll find numerous articles on web explaining that you must make all sorts of modifications to Internet Explorer's configuration settings to further enhance it's security. If you have never done so, click on Internet Explorer's "Tools" menu item, then select "Internet Options" from list. Have a look through various Tabs and options with which you are presented (just look, don't touch!). Do you really want to get involved with all that complexity? There are options and custom settings for this and that, zones, advanced privacy settings and so on. An inappropriate selection or a clash of options can make things worse instead of better — so don't experiment! It is much better and much safer all round to use afore-mentioned defense-in-depth strategies to protect browser and much else besides.

Exactly how you implement regular, scheduled patching and updating depends on several factors such as Windows and browser versions. You can find all necessary information and instructions at Microsoft website and in various Help files that accompany Windows and browser. A much better option would be to consult "Chapter 15: Patches, Updates and Service Packs" and "Chapter 16: Microsoft's Patch & Update Services" from The Hacker’s Nightmare™. Those chapters are designed to provide all details and instructions in one place and in a logical, jargon-free and easy to follow manner, with added bonus of having ready access to all strategies and tutorials in rest of book to really implement solid defense-in-depth protection.

However you go about it, there's one thing you must be clearly aware of: probably sooner than later complacency will cost you – perhaps very dearly. Keeping your Operating System and your browser patched right up-to-date is NOT optional.

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