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February 23, 2007
Dear CNET members,
Happy Friday! Before I get started on this week's topic, I have a couple of things to bring up. First of all, a big thank you to those who took the time to submit feedback on the newsletter in regard to the lack of submissions from last week's topic. From reading what you had to say, I realize many of you were either not interested in the topic or just didn't have the knowledge to answer. One member even jokingly mentioned that maybe everyone was too busy watching the Anna Nicole Smith saga! LOL!
The second thing is that for a long time, I have been asking you all to submit your answers to me by e-mail. Well, what I want to do is switch it up a bit and try something new to see how it works out. So starting this week, rather than you submitting the answers to me via e-mail, I'm going to have you submit it in the forums under one thread I've created. And once I have all the answers, I will choose a few good ones from the list and let you vote by a poll on who deservingly gets to be picked the winning answer of the week. So, play along with me because I'm very interested in seeing you guys play a big role in picking the best overall answer.
Now let's move to this week's topic from James, who wants to know if Windows Live CareOne all-in-one security suite is good enough standalone protection for his PC's security. Well, James, my personal thought is when it comes to a PC's security, there's never a "silver bullet" solution that guarantees you full protection. And from reading all our member submissions, you'll see many members have the same thought. Generally speaking, one antivirus utility is sufficient, but when it comes to spyware and adware, one utility may not pick up all the nasties out there, so you may have to depend on a second or even a third utility to ensure most of them are caught dead in their tracks. Even then, there are no guarantees. But enough from me, as I'll let our members speak to their experiences and recommendations. So, to get this topic kicked off, I give you the winning answer by Pete, who gives a quick explanation of the difference between viruses and spyware/adware and reasons why you should still have other protections. We have some good recommendations and opinions this week, so check them out. We even have many members who share their experience of using Windows Live OneCare, so you can get their side of the story. If any of you would like to add to this week's topic, please feel free to join us in the discussion thread. Thanks everyone!
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Member Question of the Week
With all the new spyware and virus protection programs
and security systems out there, I thought I would try out the
new all-in-one system called "Windows Live OneCare." Now that
I installed it, do I still need all the other protection I
have such as (Spybot - Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware SE, and
SpywareBlaster)? I try to keep my computer clean and safe; I
hope I have the best installed. Can you have ever have too
much protection? Is Windows Live OneCare something I can
depend on solely for protecting my PC? If not, what would
other all-in-one security packages would you recommend?
Submitted by:
James R.
James, for what it's worth, spyware and viruses, while often lumped into one big category are, in fact, two ever so slightly different critters. It may seem like a matter of mincing words, but a virus, by definition, is something that causes harm to your computer--something that replaces program files, guaranteeing the virus runs every time you execute a program. Modern viruses tend to take over your computer to send out spam, launch denial of service attacks, and the like. They tend to make things run really, REALLY slow.
Spyware, on the other hand, by definition is a program that (as the name suggests) spies on you--it reads where you've visited on the Web, sending that information back to usually nefarious sources who use that information for whatever purpose.
Spyware's kissing cousin--adware--by definition, is a program that hijacks your Web browsing experience by serving up pop-up ads, redirecting you to Web sites that have nothing to do with where YOU want to go...
Submitted by:
Pete Z. of Los Angeles, California
For
Pete's
efforts, we're sending him his choice of any
CNET Learning CD.
Community Buzz
 Each week we take a look at topics discussed in the forums.
Have fun and enjoy!
More from the forums
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Check out next week's question:
Here's a question I have yet to see discussed anywhere. While there is a lot of discussion of the question, "Is your PC
ready for Vista?", nowhere have I seen a discussion of whether your SOFTWARE is ready for Vista. In past upgrades I remember
seeing many examples of software incompatibility moving from one version of Windows to the next. How can I tell if I will
have any software incompatibility issues if I upgrade to Vista?
--Submitted by:
Art S. of St. Louis, Missouri
We feature a new question every other Friday, and if you have the answer for our member, submit it above. If your answer submission is picked by our members as the most popular, you'll receive a free CNET Learning CD of your choice.
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