Grrrr!

[whotheheckami]

Could do with a bit of IT help.

Our home network is currently running with McAfee Firewall, Norton Anti-virus on each PC and 3 Anti-Spyware software products that we run regularly. However, we still seem to be inundated with spyware. Finally, over the weekend Ivan's AOL email account was highjacked and used to send out spam.

What are we doing wrong?
Is there a single product (One Ring to Rule Them All) that could help us out?
Not too bothered about the cost as Mendi says that the company can pay!
All suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks

Comments

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

I would agree with everyone here.

If you can't cleanse (ie. reboot, rescan and it's clean) your computers with AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy, it may make sense to back up, reformat and reinstall each one in turn. At the same time, switch to a different ISP - really. It might involve a bit of pain and hate to begin with, but you'll realise just how much AOL censors and controls your PC and content.

Firefox for your web browsing, Thunderbird for your email. A couple of things to note with email addresses. Never post them on a public forum. Treat it with the same level of trust as your direct phone number. If you have to use an email address for something, get a free HoTMaiL one or similar and use that.

I receive NO spam at all as a result of sticking to this advice (plus I have my own dyndns domain as well).

Set up accounts for people on your computers as 'Administrator' and if you can't trust them not to download or install nasties like pop-ups or spyware then set their accounts to 'Limited'.

Keep your computer up to date with Windows Update. Use the Firewall with Service Pack 2 - it's pretty good. Install Grisoft AVG for anti-virus - it's free.