In the early 1990’s, the
biggest threat to computers was the virus.
Before networks, and the explosion of the internet, viruses and Trojan
horses moved around from system to system on floppy disks.
The age of anti-virus
software was born.
Today, USB “Thumb Drives”
have become an everyday item. They
are popular marketing giveaways, and prices have dropped to below thirty dollars
for 2GB capacity drives. That amount
of storage works out to up to 2 hours of video, hundreds of photos, or several
program files.
That’s the promise, and the
threat, of USB drives. Because the
primary reason for a USB drive's
existence
is to provide portability of data between systems, it’s an attractive medium for
transportation and distribution of Adware, Malware, Trojan Horses and associated
nasty stuff from system to system.
“But, my system’s clean,”
you may say. “I have anti-virus
software installed.” True enough.
But, is your anti-virus software configured to examine new files or
programs that attempt to enter your system via a USB thumb drive?
Many default installations of anti-virus or anti-spyware software don’t
automatically set up to detect nasty bits on USB devices.
There are a few common
sense things you can do to help protect your system from attracting an infection
from Adware, Virus, Worm or Trojan Horse:
Make sure
that your anti-virus software is set to scan removable drives when they are
detected. Did you know that your
digital camera appears to your system as a removable drive?
Same for your MP3 player.
Be sure that
you’re configured to scan new downloads, especially music or video files.
Malware can be embedded in one of these files, and while you’re
watching a cute video of the kid who “likes turtles”; some piece of software
is harvesting credit card numbers from your system and sending them off to
its master.
Perform
regular scans for virus, adware and malware.
There are several products on the internet that can handle this for
you. Do your shopping to find
the product that will work best for you.
While they all perform pretty much the same functions, some are
easier to use than others, and not all of them will catch everything.
The “all-in’-one” products might not be the best for a comprehensive
protection solution. Look for
products that specialize on one area, such as Spyware detection and
elimination. Remember that it’s likely a few products that do one thing
extremely well are likely going to be more effective than one product that
does everything a little less well.
Practice
“Safe Computing” Before you plug in someone else’s USB drive (or other USB
memory device – like a camera) into your system, think about “where it’s
been”, and make sure that you perform a scan before you go any further.
You’ll be protecting your system, and your friend may thank you for
location a problem that they didn’t even know they had!
ParetoLogic Software produces a suite of superior Anti-Spyware and PC protection products.
To check out their products and download a free scanning utility, click on the banner below:
Copyright 2007, DunnCo