Don’t forget security this holiday season
The hussle and bussle of Thanksgiving is over. I am sure most everyone gorged themselves on more food than they should of, or perhaps that was me. It is official now, the 2007 Holiday shopping season.
I am sure there are many gadgets and gizmos on the wish lists of everyone, but I am sure there are many computers on those same lists as well. Computers make a great gift. Please remember the security software that goes with it. Do not neglect this important aspect of your purchase. You will not buy it later, so buy it with the computer. Please remember the antivirus, anti-spyware, and personal firewall software. The $50-100 you spend now will save you much more in the long run. This software reduces your chances of being infected with malicious software and losing valuable documents, photos, and other information.
While I am on the subject of losing information, be sure to think about a backup and recovery plan. With a computer comes great responsibility. You need to protect your information from malicious software and from the unfortunate event of data loss. Remember, data loss can be accidental, unpredictable, and occur due to hardware failures or if your machine succumbs to a virus. A simple external USB hard drive from Seagate, Maxtor, or Western Digital should suffice (or any backup solution that utilizes some type of hard drive will be fairly easy to maintain). Create a backup plan with the accompanying software and use it.
Here are some links to security suites from the big name vendors:
- Symantec/Norton: http://www.symantec.com/norton/theme.jsp?themeid=new-2008
- McAfee: http://us.mcafee.com/en-us/global/html/products/triple_play/direct.asp
- Trend Micro: http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/
I try to avoid suggesting one product over another without knowing what someone truely needs. However, speaking from past experiences and because I use and have purchased Trend Micro products, I have had better prevention and clean up success with Trend Micro PC-cillin. However, I will let it up to you to make your decision. Do your homework.
Some free alternative you might consider:
- AVG: http://www.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-virus/us/crp/0
- Avast: http://www.avast.com/eng/free_virus_protectio.html
- ClamWin: http://www.clamwin.com/ (open source)
Typically, free or open source software does not include all the features you get in a suite, but it is better than nothing.
The SANS Institute recently had an article about giving security too. You can find the article, “Holiday Shopping – Give Some Security” at http://www.dshield.org/diary.html?storyid=3678
For the technical people that may be playing “Help Desk” this holiday season, SANS also had a nice article of tools to include in your repair kit. The article, “Holiday / Family Incident Response Why and How” can be found here: http://www.dshield.org/diary.html?storyid=3678 The tools mentioned in this article are a must for anyone who must troubleshoot computers.
Good luck to all you unpaid family help desk workers. 🙂
If you have ideas for other tools, lets here them in the comments.
Full Disclosure: I was formerly a Trend Micro partner. However, I am no longer selling any product or service from any vendor. I recommend products that fit my customer’s needs and requirements.
