| Tips - Don't Click |
Automated spyware and antivirus tools are great, but they're no substitute for a little bit of vigilance on your part. A little watchfulness goes a long way. Got an email from someone you don't know? Immediately trash it without opening it. Even if your email program automatically opens your new messages in a reading pane, it's a good idea never to download an unexpected attachment. Consider using Yahoo! Mail (mail.yahoo.com) for your personal email, as it adds an extra layer of protection by immediately scanning all incoming and outgoing attachments for virus threats.
Also, no matter what the pop-ups tell you, don't click anything that jumps unsolicited onto your screen claiming to be able to fix a virus or spyware problem. These pop-ups themselves are more often than not carriers of spyware and viruses in the guise of an actual message from your operating system. A general rule of thumb is that if it opens in a browser window and you didn't specifically point your browser toward it, don't click it. Just close the window and go about your business.
Thankfully, the newest version of Internet Explorer, IE7, blocks most of these pop-ups. If you have not already upgraded from IE6, take a few minutes and visit www.windowsupdate.com. If you prefer to use Mozilla's Firefox browser instead, drop by www.mozilla.com and pick up the latest version of the browser. Both IE and Firefox offer excellent security just out of the gate, and both are great at making sure you never see those pop-ups.
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