Explanation: A firewall is a device – hardware or software – that filters information being transferred through your Internet connection with your computer. If a packet of information is flagged by the filters, it is not allowed through. Simply, a firewall is a barrier to keep destructive forces away from your property.

Recommendation: Unless you connect through a router with a hardware firewall built-in, you definitely need to run a software firewall at all times.
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Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet that will guarantee the security of your computer 100 percent; however, what you can do to continue to improve your computer’s security and decrease the possibility of infection is use a firewall, keep your system up-to-date, and equip your computer with reputable antivirus software.
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Many fear that anti-spyware laws will outlaw legitimate adware, which is a perfectly acceptable form of advertising and commerce is perfectly acceptable, that is, until it takes the form of spyware and tracks a user’s activity and generates reports on this that are sold for illegal activities.
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Can someone really gain control of your computer? In a word, “YES!”

Get this: The average machine is so poorly protected that someone (and a “bad” someone, at that) tries to enter several times every hour, using software that targets online computers.
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I just ran across a staggering statistic. Did you know that Websense, a reputable network marketing firm, recently studied forms with more than 100 people (and their computers, of course) and found spyware on 92 percent of PCs? This means just 8 of the 100 computers were spyware free!
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The first time the phrase “spyware” was used was in Oct. 1994. At that time, the phrase was used in a post and jokingly referenced Microsoft’s business model.

After that, the term “spyware” generally referred to Spyware later came to allude to equipment used to spy, such as hidden cameras, small recoding devices, etc.

The term was next used publicly in 2002, by the founder of Zone Labs. In a press release announcing a new product rollout, he referenced “spyware,” and since that time the term has been used in the online world to describe software that performs certain behaviors such as advertising, collecting personal information, or changing the configuration of your computer, generally without appropriately obtaining your consent first.

You should know that spyware is often disguised and can come bundled with shareware or other software, and with music CDs. When this happens and you install the program or music CD, you also unknowingly install the spyware.

Even though the software you purchased or are sharing may not do harm, the spyware hidden within the software will.

Although very unscrupulous, spyware authors have been known to pay shareware creators to wrap-in spyware with their software. Likewise, there have been instances when spyware authors will repackage desirable free software with destructive installers that add spyware to your computer when installing.

Another way of spreading damaging spyware is by tricking users. In doing this, a program will manipulate or control a security feature that is in place to prevent these harmful installations. For instance, web browsers such as Internet Explorer are oftentimes designed with protective measures in place that will actually stop websites from initiating an unwanted download on your computer.

Spyware can also be spread when you click on a link or check a box. We’ve all been lured in by persuasive sales pitches that prompt us to take these actions, but the end result may be a nasty one, with spyware installed on your computer without your consent.

For example, a pop-up window may appear on your screen as your surf the Net. It may seem innocent enough and ask you a simple question, such as “Do you want to improve your computer’s performance?” with links that look like real buttons reading No and Yes. It doesn’t matter which button you select because either will prompt a malicious download to start, which installs spyware on your computer in a flash – and without your knowledge.

Although much more technical, spyware can also infect a computer by taking advantage of security weaknesses in the Web browser or in other applications on the targeted computer so that when you arrives at a Web site controlled by the spyware creator, the site includes code that forces the download and installation of spyware or infiltrates the browser. Unfortunately, you will not know this has happened until your computer starts to slow down, have performance issues or shuts-down altogether.

You should also be very cautious with banner ads. It’s not that long ago that banner ads were wildly popular and a very effective means of advertising. Today, however, many banner ads are spyware in disguise, replacing a site’s own advertisements with advertisements that benefit the spyware author. Obviously, this can seriously affect the revenue stream of advertising funded web sites and cause your computer great harm.

This explains why taking a proactive approach to spyware is the only way to protect your computer, its files and your identity. There are too many ways to disguise spyware and because it can take over your computer without your knowledge, you and all your important information are left vulnerable and open to attack and to theft.

Spyware is best explained as software that infiltrates your computer and captures your personal information, including tracking where you have been online (to sell this information to advertisers), capturing your keystrokes (which gives away your valuable passwords) and more – all without your knowledge or consent. Spyware can also scour your computer’s hard drive for your most important files and most private information.
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After you open and run an infected program or attachment on your computer, you might not realize that you’ve introduced a virus until you notice something isn’t quite right.

By then, some damage is done, which explains why it is important to be proactive protect your computer by using anti-spyware.

If you’re computer is left unprotected, and it displays any of the following “symptoms,” repairs are in order and these can be found in the form of anti-spyware, which will detect the malicious programs and remove them:

• Your computer seems to be running slower than usual

• Your computer stops responding to your commands or locks up often for no reason
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• Your computer “crashes” and restarts every few minutes
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•Your computer restarts on its own, and then doesn’t seem to run right
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• Your computer’s applications are not working correctly

• Disks or disk drives are inaccessible

• You are confronted with unusual error messages�

• You can’t print correctly

• You see distorted menus and dialog boxes
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While these are the most common signs that your computer has been infected, they may also be indicative of other problems, such as issues with your software or hardware.

If you don’t have current anti-virus software installed, you can scan your system for free.�

Additionally, you should also look into Registry clean and repair.

Viruses and worms are the most well known of the Malware family, and as the name implies, they “crawl” through your computer and infect it.

Originally, the term computer virus was used for a program, which infected other executable software, while a worm transmitted itself over a network to infect computers.

Viruses and worms are different in that a virus requires user intervention to spread, unlike a worm that spreads automatically.

Considering this, it’s easy to see how viruses (and not worms) are the nasty culprits that are transmitted by email or Microsoft Word documents, and they rely on the recipient to actually open the infected file, which in turn, infects the system.