How can I prevent an invisible spy program from my computer when I open a file from someone? Would Norton catch it or is there another program that would alert me? I keep hearing about people getting spied on like this. A friend opened a .jpg file and it was not really a .jpg. Nothing came up and she thought it was just a bad file, but a program actually opened, she later found out, and installed a spy program that sent every keystroke to someone else. That's scary!
Thanks!

Hello Fieldmouse,

1) Don't accept files from unknown sources. Do not participate in P2P file sharing. Only download files from known, trusted sites. Don't open E-mail messages/attachments from unknown sources.

2) Make sure your operating system, browser, and other software is up-to-date with the latest security patches.

3) Use a number of legitimate anti-malware programs that that have anti-trojan, anti-virus, and anti-spyware capability. When possible, use programs that have real-time monitoring capability. Make sure your anti-malware programs are properly configured and have the latest definitions.

4) Periodically check the efficacy of your installed software with online anti-malware detection scans.

5) Use a properly configured two-way software firewall.

6) If you believe that you are infected, work through this:

http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Overview

7) Norton what? Symantec markets a number of programs under the Norton brand. Whatever Norton-branded program you are using, it must be properly configured and have up-to-date definitions. Even if that is so, no one security program can detect all known malware - you must use more than one anti-malware program.

I have Norton Internet Security 2006. It has always been so hard to know how to configure it. AT first, every second a box popped up and eventually, I just gave up and let them do their thing, not knowing if they were ok or not. It is NOT user-friendly unless you're extremely knowledgeable. I have Spy Sweeper, AVG Anti-Malware free edition, Spybot, and Ad-Aware Personal Free Edition. I keep them all up to date. Will this do it? Also, I only open things from people I know, BUT, they all send things they have gotten, that those people have gotten, and on and on, so I never know the original source.
A program called PCHEALTH keeps hogging my resources. Is this legit? I got mixed responses in Google. Thanks so much!

Here are some links to help apply those recommendations:

1) to help you check your third-party software for known vulnerabilities, try Secunia's online checkup.* If the checkup finds issues, it will provide links and information to help you solve them.


2) If you have any of the Microsoft Office2000 products, such as Word 2000, Excel 2000, Access, Visio, Publisher or PowerPoint 2000, then also visit Office Update repeatedly until your system has all the service packs & patches required.


3) consider trying a non-Administrator user account for activities such as opening email, browsing the Internet, using Instant Messaging and media playback. If it doesn't work well for you, you can undo it.


4) remove software you don't use. This may sound trivial, but to give a concrete example, your system can't be exploited by a malicious WinAmp playlist attack, if you uninstalled WinAmp because you never use it.


* This checkup uses Java, so if your computer does not have Java installed, you can get Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from this page.

hi
a good way to prevent permanent damage from malicious emails is to use a sandboxing program such as sandboxie (google it)

place your email program in the sandbox and any damage will be easily reversable