I searched Google found malware Stump the Geeks

I knew I competence be in difficulty as shortly as it happened.

I had usually clicked on an harmless integrate in a Google poke at work and came on one of those pointless pages of links. You know the ones; they"re all separate to whatever the poke formula showed.

I corroborated out and clicked on the subsequent integrate but was redirected behind to the initial page.

Uh-oh.

I attempted one some-more linksame resultand fast sealed the browser. When I non-stop a new browser, to my relief, all seemed to be in order.

I forgot about it until the subsequent day when I arrived at work and woke up my computer. Waiting for me was a pop-up notice me that my computer had been putrescent and directing me to download sure module to repair it. Readers write in with this unfolding each month, and unfortunately far as well most people click to download the software, a inapplicable designation that usually creates counts worse by opening the user to some-more malware.

I knew better, so I hustled over to the IT guys bureau and asked for help. To have a prolonged story short, it incited out I had downloaded spyware so realistic that the IT staff had to reinstall Windows on my appurtenance to remove it.

The spywares purpose, the IT man said, seemed to be to beget higher click-through rates for sure sites. Other than being annoying, it wasnt quite harmful.

According to security module association AVG, 95 percent of online threats are Web-based and cant be stopped with antivirus module alone. Online criminals set up their own Web sites or poison existent ones, and one in eight Web users will come opposite a tainted page at slightest once a month, the association reports. Visitors to these sites can tumble plant to "drive-by downloads," or malware that downloads to their computers but their knowledge.

To strengthen surfers from these threats, AVG came up with LinkScanner, a free module that detects dangerous pages prior to you click on them. McAfee SiteAdvisor, additionally free, does the same thing. You can find them at linkscanner.avg.com and www.siteadvisor.com.

McAfees module gets the report from a network of exam computers that run extensive security tests on Web sites each day. They see for all from dangerous downloads to fishye-mail practices and give each integrate a rating in poke results.

AVGs product checks each page in genuine time prior to it opens on your PC. It places a reserve rating subsequent to each poke outcome and stops you from opening tainted sites.

Both are elementary downloads, but if you"re perplexing to implement them in Firefox, you might have to go to the add-ons menu (under "Tools") to turn on the application.

I commissioned both on my computer and found them flattering most equal. A integrate of sites perceived churned reviews;McAfee hadnt tested them yet, but AVGs on-the-spot indicate rated them safe.

Either way, you"ve got a flattering protected bet. My father chose McAfee for his laptop and the desktop; I picked AVG for my work computer but will probably leave both on my computer at homeyou can never be as well careful.

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