Dear CNET members,
Happy Friday! Indeed it's a great Friday--no rain forecast for the weekend, the sky is blue, and the sun is smiling. I can't ask for a better spring day, and I hope the same goes for you. Now moving on to this week's topic, member Ron G., has asked us for help understanding the differences between viruses and spyware/adware. Many members have defined it for him, but Ron's bigger question was if the security software built into Windows 7 is actually good enough to protect him from the nasty elements of cyberspace.
Well, Ron, many of your fellow members chimed in and offered many great recommendations and opinions. However, the question from many folks was why would Microsoft tell you that there is no need to have any other security protection because their built-in security system in Windows 7 surpasses everything else, when in actuality Windows 7 only comes with MS Defender (their antispyware protection) and firewall, but no antivirus of any sort? Without an antivirus program, you have a big hole in your PC's security. Perhaps you already installed Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), which is not part of Windows 7, but free to download and use for Windows Vista and 7 owners? Now if you have MSE running as part of your security protection for your system, many have mentioned that its protection is quite good, and with that you should have sufficient protection for the most part. But if that's not the case, having just Defender and firewall will not protect you against viruses and trojans.
As mentioned earlier, our members sent in a lot of recommendation/opinions about what they trust for security protection, and as you read through all the answers, you realize just how many flavors there are to this category. But just remember: having something is better than nothing. And as stated by others, regardless of how good a security utility is, nothing is guaranteed to protect you from every single virus, spyware/adware, or other malicious attack on your machine. I have a picked out a few answers from our members to get you started, but please give all the members' answers a read, and I'm sure you'll find them all to be helpful. Thank you all for your time and contribution. Have a splendid weekend; I know I will!
Cheers!
- Lee
Got suggestions? Send me an e-mail: messageboards@cnet.com |
I just purchased an HP computer with Windows 7. It is currently working GREAT! I was told by Microsoft that there is no need to have any other security protection because their built-in security system surpasses everything else. Is this true? If so, why is there a need for McAfee or Norton, or any other security protection? If it's not true, what are the reasons? What would you recommended for security software? And what are the differences between antivirus/antispyware security software? Please advise. Thank you.
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