First off, is it really necessary to have anti-virus and firewall software installed on your computer? Afterall, with only 200 new threats created daily, who really cares? Is it really that big of a deal if hackers are able to access your computer, look through your data, user names, passwords, and account information? Seriously, is identitiy theft really that important to you? Or what about the viruses that cause your computer to go so slow you think you will never be able to load your Internet browser. Why should you worry about malware that can cause your system files to be destroyed or your favorite family photos stored on your computer to disappear in an instant? Does it concern you that your email can be sent to thousands of spam sites and pop-ups are all over your screen offering you software to fix your computer?

Any idea what causes these types of issues? How about malware, which broken down is short for malicious software such as viruses, trojans, worms, rootkits, spyware, adware, I think you get the point. Oh wait, I forgot, you have a customized super sized computer that is not vulnerable to viruses. When I hear people tell me this, I tend to wait and act surprised when they come back saying, “oh no, I got a virus”.

It does not matter how sophisticated your computer is, you are vulnerable to malware! If you don’t have internet security software installed on your pc, you are at risk of being infected with viruses, spyware and even hackers that want nothing more than to steal your information.

So what should you do now that you already have viruses on your computer? Well you could download the latest internet security software and hope it will detect, delete or repair the infected files. Many times you will have to do a re-format of your harddrive which will cause you to lose everything on your computer so be sure to save what you want first. If you do a re-format, it has to be done properly, or it will not delete the viruses. I would recommend you to contact your local computer shop.

Although Internet security and anti-virus software will protect you against these threats, no software is guaranteed to block 100% of all malware. Many of these threats are found on websites that you visit and files that you download such as video’s, music and pictures. If you use peer to peer file sharing, I am sure you already know all about viruses and spyware. Want a hint? Stop downloading from those sites and you will stop getting viruses.

Okay, here are a couple internet security software programs I recommend that offer the best protection, features and support. First is Security Shield 2008, this is a rebrand of F-Secure and is absolutely amazing and easy to use. Another is Kaspersky Internet Security, another well designed software program with hourly updates.

As an online business owner, you face treacherous Internet security risks every single time you’re online. Viruses, hackers, and spam await you at every turn. The reality is that these threats are always going to be a component of being online and doing business online. Unfortunately, they seem to be here to stay.

Given that, there are a number of precautions you can take to make yourself, your business and the visitors to your site as safe as possible. Here are 8 tactics proven to enhance your Internet security:

1. Virus Protection. Make sure you have the latest virus updates installed on your computer and let the software thoroughly scan your entire computer daily to ensure that no viruses successfully planted themselves on your hard drive. Set your virus checker to scan your email when it downloads, as well.

I use AVG Free to scan both my computer and my email. They also have a fee-based version that provides complete Internet protection. McAfee and Norton also offer similar products.

For spyware and malware protection, I use CounterSpy. The company that makes this software also has a new product to protect against viruses and spyware called VIPRE.

2. Spam Blocker. I have a spam blocker that I use with Outlook called Cloudmark Desktop that does a great job of helping me train my email program to recognize spam. What I like about this program is that the program users tell Cloudmark what spam arrives in their inboxes, and the programmers update Cloudmark accordingly to recognize those kinds of emails. Other spam blocker programs include IHateSpam and MailWasher.

3. Web hosting Spam Blocker. To block spam before it even hits my Outlook inbox, one of my hosting accounts offers Postini spam blocking on my server. I pay a few dollars extra each month to add this service, but it is well worth it, as it routinely blocks at least 100 emails per day that are spam. I always have the option to log into that account if I am missing an email that may have ended up there accidentally, and I can “whitelist” the sender so that it goes though without a problem the next time. Every night this service sends me a list of emails that are questionable (i.e. the service isn’t sure if it’s spam), and I quickly scan them to approve any that have been misidentified.

4. Email Address Spam. One of the easiest ways your email address gets added to massive lists of spammed email addresses is by including a clear link to your email address on your website. Spambots routinely patrol the Internet looking for readily available email addresses to harvest online. Even if you have the link “cloaked” by saying “click here to email”, which will bring up your email address in the visitor’s email program, the spambot is able to read the HTML sourcecode and harvest the email address.

Instead, remove your email address off of all of your websites. Use a contact form for people to email you that incorporates CAPTCHA technology (where the form filler has to read a graphic representation of a word or set or numbers to prove that s/he isn’t a spambot). I use the free version of Freedback for this task.

5. Discussion List Spam. If your email address must appear on any discussion lists, blog posts, or forum postings, use a free email address like the ones available at Gmail or Yahoo. In this way, you protect your “real” email address from being picked up by spambots.

6. Catch-All Email Address. If your web host company permits, create a catch-all email address that receives all email not specifically marked for a set POP email address or email forward you may have set up. When you sign up for someone’s free giveaway, for example, that will add you to their marketing list you can then enter an email address that reminds you of the site or giveaway where you used it.

For example, if I’m signing up for Jane Smith’s free dog training tips report, I might use dogtraining@mydomain.com, which will then end up in my catch-all domain email address. In this way, you don’t have to give away your “real” email address, and you can determine if the list holder sells or rents your email address to another. So, then, if you suddenly begin to get emails to your dogtraining@mydomain.com address from a dog food company you’ve never heard of, you’ll know that Jane sold or rented your email address to them.

7. Firewalls and Hackers. Make sure that you are using Windows firewall protection, at a minimum, to protect your computer from being hacked while you’re online. Or, use a free firewall like ZoneAlarm. You can also upgrade for a fee to get enhanced protection.

If you use a wireless router, be sure to set a password to secure it so that anyone passing by your home or office cannot hijack your signal and potentially hack your computer. I was resetting the wireless connection on my laptop just last week and discovered that there were 3 unsecured wireless connections in my neighborhood. I live in a residential section with no businesses, so I know that these were unsecure wireless routers in my neighbors’ homes.

8. Secure Server. If you’re selling something online, either your website hosting account or your shopping cart provider needs to have a security certificate so that any monetary transactions can be made over a secure server. You can check to see if your checkout process is secure by looking for https:// in the address window of your browser when browser when you are on the payment page of your site/shopping cart. Some browsers will also show a gold locked padlock icon when you are on a secure server.

I had to purchase a security certificate from my hosting company for my membership site, as the secure server wasn’t built into the shopping cart that is integrated into the membership site software. If you use Paypal or some version of 1ShoppingCart.com, you are safe, as your customers’ transactions are being carried over a secure server.

When you make sure that your computer and email are protected from spam, viruses, malware and the like, your customers are then safe when you email them or upload something to your site for them to access. Responsible online business owners need to take every precaution available to them to enhance Internet security for all involved.

It was then when I heard about Douglas Cottle CEO of anti-cyber crime. Douglas Cottle has really worked hard to provide us with the latest and the best tool for desktop virus protection. His team of dedicated engineers have used the best of the breed technologies and methodologies and prepared a revolutionary product. I am using Anti-Cyber Crime Professional and I feel that it is one of the best and the most superior solution providing world class protection against Viruses and spywares. My vote for the best anti-virus software goes to Anti-Cyber Crime Professional.

This product is a combination of world’s best anti-virus software engine and anti spyware engine. The product has set high benchmarks for all other anti-virus softwares in market. It offers me complete protection against viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, adware, malware, hoaxes, dialers, jokes, hacking tools, and many other things. No doubt it is regarded as the best desktop security software and network security software in market.

What impressed me most, was the ease of use of this software. Once you install this software, you need not do any kind of supervision and tweaking. Their innovative “hands OFF technology” is simply the best. The product combines ease of use and latest desktop virus protection. The price at which this product is offered is unbelievable. At just 49.95$ you can buy the world’s best antivirus software.

I hope you still not confused on which tool to buy. Download and install Resolution Anti Cyber Crime 5.0 anti-virus tool now and keep your PC secure from all kinds of malware and adware.

This means that users need to remain ever vigilant to avoid becoming the victim of a potentially very harmful computer virus. It is important for every computer owner to know that not all viruses are the same. Some computer viruses are just annoying, generating popup ads as you browse the web, or increasing the amount of SPAM you receive.

Other types of computer virus, however, can be more dangerous. Some computer viruses can wipe out a hard drive, or steal your personal information and files. To make matters worse, some computer viruses are able to hide in a computer for some time, activating at a future date and doing their damage when triggered by certain events or dates.

Fortunately, computer owners do not have to be at the mercy of computer virus coders. There are a number of measures computer users can take to protect themselves from viruses, Trojan horses, adware, spyware and other malicious code on the internet.

For starters, it is essential that all computer users install a good quality anti virus software program BEFORE their computer is connected to the internet. This is because there are programs that constantly search the internet, looking for computers that are unprotected by virus scanning software. A recent survey by a security organisation found that it takes only minutes for a computer to become infected with viruses and spyware. Installing an anti virus software program is vital to protecting yourself from these malicious programs.

It is also important to update that anti virus software program on a regular basis. In the past, many computer security experts recommended doing updates on a weekly basis, but most agree that weekly updates are no longer sufficient. It is generally best to update the anti virus software you install daily, and to schedule those updates to run automatically. Running the updates automatically will ensure you do not forget to update the software, and running the updates daily will ensure that you are protected against the latest threats.

Most users will want to schedule the updates to their virus scanning software to occur during the night, when they are asleep. Running these updates when the computer is not in use is a good idea for a number of reasons. For one thing, updating the anti virus software when the computer is not in use will ensure that there are no conflicts, and that the program is able to update itself to detect the latest computer virus. Running the updates after hours will also prevent the updates from interfering with web surfing or any other activity. Running a computer virus protection update can sometimes interfere with other software, so it is best to run it automatically, when you do not need the computer for other things.

Removable media such as cds, floppy disks, usb keys that are infected and used in another system can carry the virus and infect the other machine. If you computer is infected with a virus you will need to remove the virus as soon as possible otherwise it can infect the system completely and spread to others. If a computer is infected by a computer virus the computer needs to be scanned by virus scanning software. When surfing the internet most likely you been infected with a Trojan, virus, or some type of spyware, according to many virus detection agencies, the unprotected PC is infected on average within 20 minutes of normal internet usage. Many systems get infected every day, you must take safety measures or your system might get infected, and the virus might corrupt your data on your system. A Computer Worm is a self replicating program, the first worm to gain wide attention was the Morris Worm this infected a large number of computers and earned its writer 400 hours of community service and over $10000 in fines. When a virus infects you computer it can replicate itself, use up system resources, allow a user remote access, record keystrokes to the infected computer, it also has the ability to destroy personal data.

You must take precautions because when you download it may contain spyware, adware or viruses, spyware and adware can collect personal data, record your browsing habits and no more about you. Ad and Spyware are programs that are automatically installed on your computer.

When your computer is infected with a virus they are designed to alter your normal computer functions and spyware infections are used to spy on you, one way they do this is by recording your personal information. Many times adware, viruses and spyware find what is called a “back door” to install and replicated itself you in your computer.

Downloading may sometimes cause error on the system or the entire computer system may crash. Many spyware or viruses are downloaded when downloading software and music. Many viruses can lay dormant without you knowing this, since you don’t know it is there it can attack at any moment when least expect it, it could attack when typing a report and downloading important. Whether you have learned your lesson from a past experience or not, try not to download unwanted files or open email messages sent to you by people you don’t know. Many people do all of this without any real understanding of just how vulnerable they are each time they are on the internet. Try to take precautions, find reputable software and install it to protect your system. There is free software on the web that will protect your system.

Today’s world is totally different, there are hundreds of thousands of people on the Internet that would love to steal your credit card, bank details, paypal account you name it they want it!

But it’s not just that they also want to take your identity to ruin your credit by taking out massive loans in your name and having it paid in to your account for them to just withdraw it from there PC…

It does not stop there either, not only are we scared to wits of losing our cash but we also have people wanting to destroy our data on our computers out of pure fun and joy… It’s a sad world we live in.

Now I’m not here to scare you, don’t close that Internet connection just yet as I do also have some great tips and ideas on how to keep your self protected from such worries.

Firstly, every computer must own a Firewall, but I can hear the slow ticking in your head already banging away and asking… What’s a Firewall?

Firewalls are designed to prevent other computers accessing your computer without your permission, to keep this very basic, a firewall is basically wall between you and the Internet. For others to get pass this wall they have to be given permission from the users on the other side.

Firewalls are great protection; I have used many, ZoneAlarm, Norton and also McAffee. But the best I have seen so far would have to be from Panda Software. They have a two in one package having Antivirus and Firewall all in one box. Though this may stop people from trying to attack your PC using software etc there are still many other routes that you can get attacked.

Viruses, Spyware, Trojans are just a few names that are currently taking advantage of thousands of PCs around the world; a firewall will not protect you from all of these!

Instead, you are going to need an Antivirus product which will take care of most of these threats.

Most Antivirus software will protect you from almost all threats on the Internet, you don’t need Spyware protection for Spyware, Trojan protection for Trojans… You get the picture?

One single Antivirus application will do all the work for you, don’t sit there searching endless searches for different products to help you out… Why?

In the end you will have loads of junk software on your PC all taking up system resources and wasting your computers CPU power. You will start to see your PC running slower and in the end you will just have to do a recovery of the entire system because it will be too naked to even start up… Phew!

But you get the picture now; a single application is all you need, the big brand names do all this for you at the moment, it runs in your task bar and does almost everything except make you a nice cold tea! Just make sure you install the latest Antivirus software soon as your Operating System is installed… We don’t want anything bad slipping through do we!

To keep your self safe from all the nasty stuff on the Internet then the only best advice I can give you is to stay away from them bad nasty adult sites and also stay away from FREE software sites… These type of sites are hard to pick from, some are bad… Some are good.

Keep your software up to date and watch where you go and you should have no problems at all.