Anti-Malware and Firewalls
Tip 1 -- Good Anti-Malware Program
Today any computer running without good anti-malware protection is a disaster waiting to happen. Kind of like riding a motorcycle with your eyes closed. There are many excellent anti-malware programs and servives available. Some of these are free and others require a subscription. I do not recommend being cheap, although if you are fairly IT-savvy you can get by with free anti-malware options.
Important point -- anti-malware needs to be (a) updated frequently, and (b) run frequently. Many programs allow you to schedule updates and schedule system scans. The scans look through your system memory and files (and often other places) for the identifying marks of known malware - the updates are essential because dozens of new variants or forms are released every day. At a minimum I recommend scanning twice weekly and updating before every scan.
Some programs also allow for real-time scanning - this means that they scan every file you attempt to open or download - just in case something slips through. If your program provides this capability I strongly advise you to enable it.
Is it bad to run more than one anti-malware program? Not really, although it may be unnecessary. Sometimes one anti-malware program will detect the other anti-malware program and get a false positive, but this is the worse problem I have ever seen. I often run two without any problem.
Following is a link to some current anti-malware programs for Windows - this is NOT a complete list. Penn State faculty, staff and students are entitled to Norton's Anti-virus through a site license. Free Penn State downloads (requiring an access account) may be found at https://downloads.its.psu.edu/. At home I use Avast Free antivirus. Here is a link to the Top Anti-malware products of 2017. Here is a link to the top free ant-malware products of 2017. Remember, you get what you pay for, but free is better than nothing.
My preference on a mac is PC Tools iAntiVirus. Here are more good anti-malware programs for the Mac..
If you are savvy enough to run Linux you should be able to find your own good protection - although Linux really does not suffer from malware per se -- the problem is more in OpSys patches/hardening, application matches and use of Web-based services. Even so, here is a link to the top free anti-malware solutions for Linux.
Important point -- anti-malware needs to be (a) updated frequently, and (b) run frequently. Many programs allow you to schedule updates and schedule system scans. The scans look through your system memory and files (and often other places) for the identifying marks of known malware - the updates are essential because dozens of new variants or forms are released every day. At a minimum I recommend scanning twice weekly and updating before every scan.
Some programs also allow for real-time scanning - this means that they scan every file you attempt to open or download - just in case something slips through. If your program provides this capability I strongly advise you to enable it.
Is it bad to run more than one anti-malware program? Not really, although it may be unnecessary. Sometimes one anti-malware program will detect the other anti-malware program and get a false positive, but this is the worse problem I have ever seen. I often run two without any problem.
Following is a link to some current anti-malware programs for Windows - this is NOT a complete list. Penn State faculty, staff and students are entitled to Norton's Anti-virus through a site license. Free Penn State downloads (requiring an access account) may be found at https://downloads.its.psu.edu/. At home I use Avast Free antivirus. Here is a link to the Top Anti-malware products of 2017. Here is a link to the top free ant-malware products of 2017. Remember, you get what you pay for, but free is better than nothing.
My preference on a mac is PC Tools iAntiVirus. Here are more good anti-malware programs for the Mac..
If you are savvy enough to run Linux you should be able to find your own good protection - although Linux really does not suffer from malware per se -- the problem is more in OpSys patches/hardening, application matches and use of Web-based services. Even so, here is a link to the top free anti-malware solutions for Linux.
Tip 2 -- Good Firewall Protection
A firewall in an automobile is a think piece of metal that protects the passengers from a fire in the engine compartment. In the computer world, a firewall is a piece of hardware or software that protects your computer or network from malicious connections from the outside (or malicious connections to the outside). Many companies have dedicated firewall appliances at the entrance to their network. Many home computer users may have a simple firewall built into their cable or DSL modem. Either way, it is also important to run a firewall application on each and every desktop and laptop computer.
Luckily - most computer operating systems come with firewall software. Windows and Mac both provide this - so the big issue is turning it on and making sure it stays on. Doing that is pretty good!
However - in the real world nothing is always quite this simple. Firewalls work by examining the headers of Internet packets and determining whether to allow or prohibit entry. A company firewall must be programmed with rules to allow company business to proceed while keeping out threats. Most users can get by with the default settings provided by Windows or Mac. If you are trying to do something a bit more creative, like running a Web server from home, you will need to do a bit of firewall programming or configuring.
Is it bad to run more than one firewall? Not really. It may be unnecessary but it often won't hurt anything.
Here is a link to a good site for finding free and commercial firewalls for Windows
Here is info on firewalls for the Mac.
Linux systems do need firewalls - here is a link to a page rating the top 5 Linux Firewalls.
Luckily - most computer operating systems come with firewall software. Windows and Mac both provide this - so the big issue is turning it on and making sure it stays on. Doing that is pretty good!
However - in the real world nothing is always quite this simple. Firewalls work by examining the headers of Internet packets and determining whether to allow or prohibit entry. A company firewall must be programmed with rules to allow company business to proceed while keeping out threats. Most users can get by with the default settings provided by Windows or Mac. If you are trying to do something a bit more creative, like running a Web server from home, you will need to do a bit of firewall programming or configuring.
Is it bad to run more than one firewall? Not really. It may be unnecessary but it often won't hurt anything.
Here is a link to a good site for finding free and commercial firewalls for Windows
Here is info on firewalls for the Mac.
Linux systems do need firewalls - here is a link to a page rating the top 5 Linux Firewalls.
This page created and made available for educational purposes by Dr. Gerry Santoro - [email protected]