How to keep your machine away from monsters?

Since the first computer virus was born forty years back, people have been overwhelmed by the fear of cyber threats. And with the introduction of World Wide Web, people nowadays are more aware of the existence of these vicious cyber monsters. No matter how dangerous these monsters are, we all know that there's always a balance within this world, when there's "Yin", there is also "Yang"; when there are viruses, there will be ANTIVIRUSES. Today, ANTIVIRUSes are like religions, a belief, that their devotees like to argue about. People always argue about the best protection: the Norton Clan against the McAfee Tribe, the Freebies supporters against the "pay for better protection" supporters. The war never ends. So in the end, you might still ask me, "so, which is the best?"

The web is a dangerous dark forest; any wrong steps might kill, even if you're a hunter holding the best weapon you can ever get in the world. No antivirus can ensure you 100% safe journey into the web, not even if you pay $99 for one. If you want to explore the web safe and sound, a combination of "reliable antivirus software" and a good "common sense" will do the magic.

The main remedy for security threats would still be a decent antivirus software. So, which is the best? Paying for the best reputation antivirus that you can get or download a freeware from the trusted AV site? I used to be a greedy person, and have tried almost all the top antivirus software, such as Symantec, Symantec Norton, Kaspersky, Nod32, Bitdefender, Avast, Avira, AVG, Microsoft Security Essential, Comodo, etc. But the fact is, each antivirus has its own strength. No antivirus can be perfect. My advice would be, try to avoid the all-in-one security software. The reason is simple. The cyber security business is very competitive, with the competition between numbers of reputable AV companies together with the availability of high quality freeware, Every company is trying to show their very best to the customers by including numbers of functions in their software, including antivirus, antispyware, anti bloatware, anti rootkit, CPU usage monitor, sandbox, and even tune-up utilities. Not only that these components fail to benefit your pc, in opposite, they burden your pc. Some would say that they won’t mind the heavy CPU usage, as long as their pc are well protected. But ask yourself, is it so? Heavy CPU usage not only make your pc sluggish, but also heat up your pc fast, as your CPU (more commonly known as processor) generates a lot of heat while it is operating. The higher CPU usage is, the more heat it generates. I believe everyone of you know that the ultimate pc killer would be “excessive heat”, which is why laptop cooler is invented. Thus, that explains my claim. To be fair, I would say that both paid software and freeware are reliable, as they come with the same purpose, to help you defend your pc from invaders. I myself have tried both and highly recommended paid products such as Nod32 Antivirus and the brand new Norton Antivirus, while the freeware such as Avast, Microsoft Security Essential and Panda Cloud. As I said before, sometimes, they might miss a few, but that doesn’t make them useless, because each has their own strength.

Why did I Bold the word help? Because antivirus is not the only thing you would wish to rely on to secure your fortress. This is where the COMMON SENSE comes in. While most of the pc users believe that by paying for expensive antivirus software, they can simply click anything they want in the web. That is a dangerous thought. I would like to repeat my statement, no antivirus is perfect, they might miss a few. As a hunter with a strong weapon, you might want to watch your step. If you click the wrong button which links you to malicious sites, you are in trouble. There are few tips that can help you to protect yourself:

1.      Do not ever believe in free gifts and prizes.

2.      Do not believe that you can learn how to hack somebody’s account (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Hotmail, Gmail, etc.) by providing your own hotmail address and password.

3.      Do not ever provide your credit card numbers and other important information to a website that is not reputable and trustworthy.

4.      Do not be attracted by colourful and attractive offers of free games and applications.

5.      Avoid clicking colourful advertisements and notifications which are blinking around the web page.

6.      Do not believe in suspicious popup that warn you to scan and clean your pc from virus. (the popup itself is the virus)

These are very common but often neglected steps to prevent you from stepping into the trap of the bad guys. There are so many other ways to protect yourself which will be hard for me to list down, but I believe that by following the tips above, you will be fine. Thanks for reading. :P