[Mick Parry]

Chaps

I am just after some general advice.

My pc is protected by Spywareblaster which is supposed to prevent the spyware getting in.

I run Superantispyware every couple of days and I can expect to kick out about 15 dodgy infections which seems rather high.

Is there anything else I can do to beef up security. My ISP provides anti virus, firewall and pop up blocker protection.

Many thanks

Mick

[Cheeseball81]

Read here on How to tighten your computer's security settings: http://forums.techguy.org/t208517.html

[lunarlander]

If you have Windows XP Professional, MS published an XP Security Guide v2 and tells you how to harden XP Pro. It is available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec...fault.mspx#ETE

Hardening an OS gives the attacker a smaller attack surface by disabling unnessary features. XP after a fresh install is quite bloated and has a lot of places for an attacker to poke at.

Also you should consider running it daily using a limited user account, as that prevents some malware from working and prevents malware from making system wide changes. In the Unix world, nobody runs a machine daily using the admin account. MS acknowledges that and has made UAC for Vista to achieve the same end.

Also along the lines of protection and prevention, use Mcafee's Site Advisor, available here:

http://www.siteadvisor.com/

It places a site rating besides every google result and tells you about malware infested sites before you go clicking on them and instantly infecting your machine.

[Mick Parry]

Gentlemen

Thank you for your time and trouble.

Regards

Mick

[Mick Parry]

Chaps

I feel that a bit of feedback will be useful here.

I did what was recommended by the two chaps above and have just run a scan for spyware. Just one item in 24 hours compared to 15 the day before.

This proves the usefulness of fora such a this and once again my thanks to you who offered such excellent advice.

Regards

Mick