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I guess by now everybody’s heard about the Zotob variant worms running around affecting Windows systems all over the world. Heck, it might have affected you in someway, I know yesterday evening, a co-worker of mine got one on his test machine, and a whole client building got hit hard. Although removal tools and patches(MS05-039) came up quickly to close the security vulnerability in systems, it just struck me how even in a high security environment like where I work, things like these still happen all the time.

Although we can’t be 100% protected from things like security breaches, viruses, worms and trojans, there are a couple of steps we could take to protect our PC’s:

  • Install a virus scanner on your PC. If you can afford one, buy something like McAfee or Norton. If not, there are some good free ones out there like Avast, Trend Micro or AVG.
  • Use a personal firewall within your home network. Most of the newest home routers come with a firewall built in, but if you want added security, use something like Zone Alarm or Sygate.
  • Ensure you have a spyware removal tool on your PC. The most popular ones these days seem to be AdAware, Spybot S&D, and Microsoft Anti Spyware.
  • Keep your PC’s updated with the latest security patches.
  • Do NOT open attachments from people you don’t know.
  • Do NOT open attachments from people you know, but have suspicious names or seem out of place. If in doubt, confirm with them that they actually sent a file before opening.
  • If you get affected with a virus/worm/trojan, take that PC off the network immediately to prevent the thing from spreading to other PC’s within your network (and other people too).

Hopefully some of these tips will be useful in helping protect your network and PC’s.

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