Super Anti Spyware

My super techie friend who introduced me to GIMP, also introduced me to the world's best {& free} virus protection. Now he works in Washington DC for a huge firm that does IT security for the federal government, so this guy knows what he's talking about!

Its called Super Anti-Spyware. All you have to do is go to their website & download the free version. They have one you can pay for; honestly, the free version works so well I've never paid for the upgraded version. I run the program anytime I start to have issues with my computer, whether its running slow, the mouse is being dumb or pages are taking forever to load. 

*What about your Norton, you ask? 

Well I'll give you this to chew on. Do you know that most viruses are found on PC vs. Mac? Ever notice how every time you buy a PC they give you Norton for free? Hmm, Norton must be pretty easy for hackers to tackle.  Plus I think that Norton works like a 'line of defense' to stop viruses from attacking; whereas, Super Anti-Spyware cleans up all the stuff that Norton lets in.

*Well, what if Norton is updated regularly? 

I have a laptop that was 3 weeks old and had Norton installed in it. It was behaving in a very frustrating manner, but Norton never said anything about risks. I installed Super Anti-Spyware & removed 220 viruses that Norton didn't recognize.  Sound scary? Well that's nothing compared to what we pulled off Amy's computer when we installed it. She had 1,234 malwares found on her hard drive!! Hopefully she'll leave a comment telling you all how wonderful her computer is now running :) She mentioned that her computer was hiding some picture files from her, but thanks to Super Anti-Spyware, they are all found again!!

YAY!!

Ok, seriously this will change the way you use your computer & plus if you don't like it, it's super easy to uninstall.

The other super amazing thing he introduced me to is called Returnil. Now this program works like a false hard drive. Its best for using before you go to a known contaminate site such as Myspace or kids' game sites. Its also free to install. If you turn it on, your computer will run just like normal. The difference is that once it restarts your computer goes back to how it was before you turned the Returnil on.  So the viruses get saved to this false hard drive & your real one is safe the whole time!!

The only down side to using this is that if you forget to turn it off, you will lose anything that you are working on like papers or pictures. I use this when I let my 9 year old play on the computer, but sometimes I forget that its active & bookmark things or create docs. One way to save those important bookmarks or docs is to email them to yourself. They won't be on the hard drive when you restart; but, you cam pull them off your email & save them.

It seems like a bit of a hassle, but its nothing compared to 2 hours waiting for 1,200 viruses from kids' sites to be removed!!

Good Luck & Happy Almost Valentine's Day!!