Woody says get Microsoft Security Essentials

I was going to give you a list of antivirus and antispyware programs to install. (All of them free.) I have been using AVG but Woody Leonhard--the reining maven of all things Windows--took me by surprise. He says he dumped other programs and installed (are you ready?) security software from Microsoft.

So find out why I did the same: http://www.askwoody.com/2009/microsoft-security-essentials-da-facts/

For more about Microsoft Security Essentials see this MS press release.
To download the program go to http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/.

Be sure before you install MS SE to remove any other antivirus software you have installed: whether it's Norton's (Symantec), McAfee, AVG, Avast or any other. Don't run more than one antivirus program at the same time or your whole system can crash.

OK, I still double (triple and quadruple) check with Spybot Search & Destroy but I disabled the resident TeaTimer because you don't want too many resident programs running in the background, bumping into each other. I also use Ad-Aware without the resident Ad-Watch and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (free, non-resident version).

IMPORTANT: One caveat. One PC expert told me

Remember that installing and uninstalling software is NOT good for Windows. especially stuff that works intimately with the OS itself like antivirus stuff. it's just asking for problems playing around with it.

So if you already have a good antivirus program installed, you might just want to leave well enough alone. On the other hand, if you don't have a good AV program installed or you're just paranoid, this looks like a good option.

As for me, I have a lot of alligators in my moat. You can't be too careful these days. It's my personal Homeland Security system.

Travel Warnings for the Internet

New computer? Before you do anything, make sure you're protected.

I'm not exaggerating. These days I think the US State Department should issue Travel Warnings for the Internet, just like they do for countries that are dangerous or unstable.

As they say in the advertising business,  you have to be crazy not to be paranoid!

First Step: Make sure you update Windows regularly. Microsoft issues regular automatic security updates. But to get those updates, you have to have Automatic Updates set up to receive them, or you have manually update Windows yourself.

Go to Start, Control Panel, and double click on Security Center. See if Automatic Updates are set to load. That is Windows' recommended setting. If you don't want to let them take charfe of installing updates and want more control of what Microsoft is installing, change the setting to automatically download the updates and only notify you that you have updates ready to be installed. Then check the list and decide what to install and when. (If you have never updated before, check with your IT expert before installing Windows Genuine Advantage authentication or Service Pack 3. This is not the place for a detailed discussion, but these updates can sometimes cause more problems that they solve.)

Until next time, remember: NEVER DOWNLOAD ANYTHING FROM AN EMAIL MESSAGE. OK, not "never" but don't click on any links in an email unless you are expecting the link and know for sure who sent it to you. Even if you think an email is from someone you know, the return address might have been spoofed. And NEVER download any program from any site you're not absolutely sure is safe. I usually download software from http://www.download.com/. If there's a program you want to get, try them first.

Next time we discuss Firewalls. Meanwhile, follow these email precautions. Stay safe!