Safeguard Your Computer

August 22, 2007

by Felicia Rolfe

When Matt Ferranto opened an e-mail recently, it looked innocent enough. It wasn't. It had a virus in it.

"Immediately something happened to the computer. Systems began going down," Ferranto said.

Consumer Reports' Dean Gallea just tested 25 different software programs that promise to protect computers from viruses and other threats. Some just target one threat.

Others, called "suites" offer a combination of solutions to protect computers from spyware, spam, and viruses.

It helps if you know what the code of a computer virus looks like.

"This is what a good antivirus program looks like when it's attacking the virus," said Gallea.

Then you just click "delete."

"And now it's gone," said Gallea.

Artificial viruses were created by an outside lab. Consumers Reports' testers took special care to make sure the viruses only infected the test computers.

The test viruses and the computers they were on were kept under lock and key.

Antispam software Tests were also run against spyware, which can cause a barrage of pop-up ads and cripple your computer. Testers also looked at antispam software that helps separate junk e-mails from the ones you want to keep.

"This is an example of the anti-spam program catching the spam mail as it comes in and putting it into a spam mailbox. But you need to make sure you check that spam mailbox once in a while to make sure it hasn't caught something you want to keep," said Gallea.

Only one software suite offers excellent protection against viruses, spyware, and spam, the PC-cillin Internet Security 2007. It costs $50 with a renewal fee of $ 50 each additional year.

PC-cillin Internet Security 2007 also offers other helpful features, including detection of phishing e-mails and child filters to keep kids away from sites not appropriate for them. You can get more information on how to protect yourself online free at ConsumerReports.org.

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