Ounces of Protection

JAN. 15,2002: IN AN E-MAIL TO MICROSOFT employees Chairman Bill Gates announces a "Trustworthy Computing" initiative and declares: "Our products should emphasize security right out of the box." Number of security fixes for Windows XP since then? One hundred.

When it comes to security, you can trust Microsoft to reveal three serious flaws in its operating system every month. Now it's getting into the antivirus and antispyware businesses its gaffes singlehandedly created. Great.

So much malware is directed at Windows that an unprotected PC directly connected to the Net will crash within ten minutes. But you can defend yourself. Here's a ten-point plan.

Build Barriers

If you connect via cable or DSL, put a router between your computer and your modem. The router can hide your computer from the Net and deflect many brute-force attacks.

Next get a software firewall that restricts traffic both to and from the Net. The one that comes with Windows handles only incoming attacks, making it defenseless against malware that gets inside your computer and calls home. But software firewalls pester you to become the final arbiter of which programs get per mission to communicate; be suspicious of approving anything you haven't heard of. Best of breed: Zone Labs ZoneAlarm.

Vanquish Viruses

Run antivirus software and set it to update itself every day. Be sure to maintain your subscription; the version that comes free with computers generally poops out after 90 days or so unless you pay up. Products I like include Symantec Norton Antivirus and Trend Micro PCCillin. Symantec charges an outrageous $30 per support call; Trend charges nothing. Like ZoneAlarm, both of these programs are available in multifunction "security suites."

Slam Spyware

Spyware can hijack your browser, deliver payloads of pop-up ads or send miscreants the keystrokes you use to enter passwords. But test after test shows that even the best antispyware products don't catch everything, so savvy users resort to using two or more. Good ones include Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy, both free, and the $30 Webroot Spy Sweeper.

Surf Smart

Stay away from bad neighborhoods. Kazaa and Grokster, two programs used largely for illicit "sharing" of songs, make their money by larding your machine with spyware. Another spyware lair: porn pages.

Stay Suspicious

If your bank sends you E-mail asking you for your credit card number or password, don't even think about responding, or at least phone the bank instead, calling a number that's not in the message and use decent passwords with digits, upper- and lowercase letters and punctuation marks if possible. "Password" is not a clever choice. Don't open e-mail attachments unless you're positive they're meant for you. Opening one is still the simplest way to get malware into your machine.

Gut Graphics

Set your E-mail software to read messages as text only, not HTML. Graphical mail can open Web connections that do things you might not appreciate. In the rare event you need to see the graphics, you can change the setting back momentarily.

Watch Wireless

If you have a wireless network, be sure to encrypt communications. If you use public Wi-Fi access points, be aware that unencrypted info, including most e-mail passwords, can be intercepted by anyone in the area with the right equipment.

Update

Updates keep the operating system and other software updated regularly via the Web-a serious challenge for dial-up users given the massive downloads often required.

Mull Macs

Although Apple has issued dozens of fixes for Mac OS X, the system has proven far more secure than Windows. At least for now viruses and spyware are virtually unknown in Macland. But don't want to protect yourself and your computer? Here's a ten-point plan. Let a Mac give you a false sense of security: It won't protect you against, say, e-mail tricksters phishing for your credit card number.

Download Defensively

Be sure to get software downloads directly from the vendor or from reputable sites like download.com. Some delightful sites purveying antispyware programs load them down with-you guessed it-spyware of their own.