It happens to the best of us...Spyware & the BSOD.

The famous Blue Screen of Death. The curse of every Windows user. Here I am, the proponent of good computing habits, getting infected by nasty Spyware. It happened one easy going Saturday afternoon. I was installing a game, and I lost my serial number, so I went to some crack sites to get a keygen (too lazy to look for it...). Of course, I got the pop-ups to install some software (which I always say no!). Inside the archive, there was this nasty little exe. My desktop got hijacked, and I knew I was done for. Next thing I knew, I could no longer get into Windows, and all was lost.

A format job later, and here I am. No data lost, but lots of time lost in the interim.

How can you avoid these problems. Well...here is what I now do.

First of all, install the Firefox browser. This will avoid many of the Microsoft Explorer exploits (Mostly related to Direct X). You will still need Explorer for certain functions, such as Windows Updates (Another important feature of your protection). Really, it feels very much like Explorer, and is the smart choice for browsing.

Download Ad-Aware + Spybot Search and Destroy from download.com. These are free programs that will search your computer for the nasties. If you have a legit version of Microsoft (Always a good idea), install the Microsoft Anti-Spyware. No spyware program can fully protect you, so a concoction of the three will be needed.

Make sure you have at the very least the Windows Firewall active. Install and encourage one of my employees by downloading his add-on to Windows Firewall called FirePanel.

Stay away from music sharing programs like Kazaa, which will surely install spyware. The only ones right now that I suggest (Of course for legal purposes) is Limewire and Ares. Better yet, get iTunes and download some cool Podcasts like Twit which is my favorite podcast right now.

The general rule of thumb is this:
Treat your computer like a tool (you of course take care of your tools), and all should be good. Treat your computer like a toy, and it will soon be broken.

The last thing you want to see if the BSOD.

Well...the last thing I want to see is:

-Bill Gates wearing a Speedo.
-My house on fire. The roof...the roof...the roof is on fire...
-Any romantic comedy starring Kevin Costner.
-My wife sporting a beard.
-The "Check Engine" light on my car.
-The person who inspects my underwear (Inspector 37).
-Herbal Viagra emails.

Stay safe!