Computer security advice

Protect yourself from viruses, phishing and other internet threats. Understand which security programmes you should use.

Are you with BT, Virgin or Talk Talk?
You should know that these companies have all signed up for a trial in Behavioural Advertising, known as Phorm. This is a controversial method of targeting advertising by observing your personal browsing habits.

You can opt out when you see the initial full page notice. After that you may have to keep clicking on adverts to switch them off.

Latest info:

Internet security, Top Recommendations

Trusted Reviews shows you how to 'Keep it clean for free' It looks at a variety of excellent free software.
This is the security for Joe Bloggs:

1. AntiVirus software.

Spyware will annoy you with pop-up ads, at worst they will let someone else take control of your PC.
Spybot - Search & Destroy is arguably the best of all thanks to it being a lean and super fast program.

2. Firewalls.

A firewall examines all traffic routed between your computer and the Internet to see if it meets certain criteria. If it does, it is allowed in. If it doesn't, it is stopped.

Though Windows does include a firewall, it isn't the most flexible or configurable of beasts. Two of the best are ZoneAlarm and Comodo

3. E-mail avalanche.

Nearly 3 Billion e-mails are sent in the UK every day.

One-third of office workers suffer from e-mail stress.

Get a Spam filter. If your Server does not provide one try Outlook Express Rules from Tom Koch the undisputed expert on OE, an MVP since 1997.

Alternatively Mailwasher sits between your Server and Outlook Express. You can see what messages are waiting for download on the Server. Tick Mail you wish to be blacklisted then allow it to download the rest.

Those you do not want are deleted on the Server, never entering Outlook Express. This version can deal with multiple e-mail accounts.

Virus Hoaxes

Do not pass urgent virus warning messages on. Check the list of known virus hoaxes. These anti virus vendors have Hoax databases:

Other programs

PDF files.

Foxit Reader is a faster and lighter alternative to Adobe's own effort.

Click Help to set as the default PDF reader.

Sumatra PDF viewer is another alternative to Adobe and it is open-source.