Obviously, the most effective way to
protect your system is to unplug it from the network, but a slightly more
realistic solution is to use a firewall. Vista comes with a built-in firewall,
although a router provides much better protection. See Chapter 7 for
details on both solutions.
Crashes and Error Messages | 281
Troubleshooting
How to protect and clean your PC
The most popular and typically the most effective way to rid your computer
of malware is to use dedicated antivirus software and antispyware software.
These programs rely on their own internal databases of known viruses,
worms, Trojans, spyware, and adware, and as such, must be updated regularly
(daily or weekly) to be able to detect and eliminate the latest threats.
Vista is the first operating system to include an antispyware tool, known as
Windows Defender (found in Control Panel and shown in Figure 6-1). The
best part about it is that, left to its own devices, Windows Defender will regularly
scan your system and even keep its spyware definitions up to date.
But Vista still doesn??™t come with an antivirus tool, mostly to appease the
companies that make money selling aftermarket antivirus software (which is
ironic, since the best tools are free). Following is a list of the more popular
antivirus products.
Figure 6-1. Windows Defender is included with Vista to help protect your PC from the
myriad of spyware designed to exploit vulnerabilities in Windows
282 | Chapter 6: Troubleshooting
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