Mom, there’s a Spy on My Desktop… No Not a Fly, a Spy
While finishing dinner a friend of mine heard her 12-year old
son’s express this while he was completing homework for
tommorrow. She thought he said ‘there is a fly on my desktop’
and politely told him ‘tell your father and he will fix it’. Of
course he knew that dad doesn’t touch computers and said ‘ but
mom it’s a spy, not a fly’. That’s when I got the phone call -
she lives right around the corner in the city of richardson
texas - about what to do, did you check your virus/spyware
software - ‘it only fixes viruses, not anything else and what is
spyware anyway? That is when the phone call got a little bit
longer than expected. Most parents have the notion that if there
are no viruses everything is smooth sailing, they have done
their part for kids and family internet security . But there are
more things than viruses, browser hijack objects, rootkits,
malware and spyware to constantly attack every computer in our
homes today. The list I just mentioned is not complete in the
tools of attack that hackers use to disable or destroy desktops
all over the world. And if you don’t have the preventative
software installed then your kids and family internet security
for your home computers are at risk from attack or being used to
attack other computers.
Desktop computer security in America’s homes has become a high
priority for the guys who fight the good fight and keep hackers
off your home computer. Every time a home is the victim of
desktop computer security attacks it can be used to attack other
networks or take control of larger networks. Computer
information security has hackers drooling at the possibilities
of massive identity theft and unwitting home users are already
the next big target. As a reminder hackers use malware, software
that does not aid the computer’s operating system, and may even
harm it, and so is purely parasitic.
The defense against the hackers is increasing and that is why
some software makers are including anti-spyware, anti-malware,
anti-virus, and firewall packages to protect computers. It’s
like having a moat around your computer with a few knights of
the CPU protecting the tower.
Now our list of components your antivirus software should have:
1. Anti-spyware 2. Anti-spam 3. Antivirus 4. Firewall 5.
Anti-malware
Software with the above components should also have a scheduled
computer security scan so that it won’t just sit on your
computer taking up space. There should be active scans for all
kinds of bad bugs on a regular basis to insure computer
information security. Hackers regularly scan computers all over
for a weakness or opening and you need a computer security scan
looking for those wholes in your system to fend them off when
they come knocking on your computer’s digital door. Don’t let
your child announce to you that there is a spy on their desktop,
get the right software to protect them and your critical
information.
For your kids and family internet security software that has
these features ‘included’ will not only give you the best bang
for your buck, it will place a digital moat between your
computers and the ever increasing bag of tricks that hackers
seem to enjoy creating.
Daviyd Peterson: 10-year consultant, instructor, trainer
Helps african american and minority homeschools bridge the digital
divide by becoming computer homeschools. Free article
on “Computer Homeschooling” and other related articles
http://www.homeschoolwireless.com/homeschoolwireless.htm
