Digital Drawbacks

It is amazing to me how, in my lifetime, the digital age (as known to the general public) was born and has evolved and grown to such a level that virtually everything we are associated with now has a digital connection. AWESOME, right?! Well maybe not so much. While there are many, many benefits and positive attributes to having "all things digital", there are those pesky negative attributes as well. 

The most common drawback to the digital revolution is the presence and work of cyber-vandals and cyber-criminals. How are they different than the traditional criminal and misfit? It all revolves around the digital enabling of the speed at which their activities are propagated. Computer viruses can infect thousands and thousands of PCs in matter of minutes when they are released and activated at the creator's choosing. They can range anywhere from just being a nuisance to stealing your personal information to causing a complete crash of servers and the networks they support. Malware is usually less destructive but can still be a major pain and nuisance if contracted and could ultimately cause the victim to purchase software he or she does not need. You need not be a victim if you will just take the time to protect yourself by vaccinating your PC or laptop.

You may already have an anti-virus program running and that is good if you do. But, do you have it set up to update automatically or to scan your PC regularly? With new viruses coming out almost everyday, it is vital that you allow your program to update automatically as new patches get released. You also need an anti-malware program to keep you from getting those pesky web browser infections after clicking on a seemly safe link. 

Which ones are the best? Well, my favorite FREE programs are AVG, Avast and even Microsoft's Security Essentials. There are pay versions of these programs as well, along with the well known McAfee and Norton programs. As far as anti-malware goes, I like Malwarebytes the best and then there's SpyBot. There are free and pay versions of these programs also and the difference between them (besides the obvious) usually comes to having additional features, plus the pay versions usually have real-time (active) protection while free versions have post-infection (passive) protection. Security suites are also popular because of the all-in-one coverage they offer in the areas of anti-virus, malware and spyware protection, privacy protection and web surfing protection. McAfee, Norton and AVG offer these full coverage suites.

My favorite online resource, for very reliable information about good security and protection programs that have been vetted, is http://komando.com/ .

Kim provides her opinions of and links to many of the programs mentioned above. 

Be a responsible user and take the time to make sure that your PC is secure and protected against those that would love to make life miserable for you.