T2W Trading Community

In Conclusion

To summarize the above, as an active trader there are a few things that are absolute "must-haves".

1. A decent, up-to-date AntiVirus package.
2. One or more AntiSpyware products.
3. A good software or hardware firewall, properly configured and regularly tested.

Finally, you need to know your PC - know how it should perform, know the kind of things it should do. If your software firewall prompts you to allow a program access that you've previously allowed access, is it because that program has become infected with a trojan, and hence changed? Or did you reconfigure it somehow? If the PC has started performing poorly, or you've lost functionality somewhere, the first thing to do is test it to death and back - the number of PC problems that are easily solved this way is astounding.

For thorough scans of both Spyware and Viruses, try running the PC in Safe Mode. To do this, hit F8 as the manufacturer's logo appears on screen, and then choose "Safe Mode" from the on-screen prompts. This will start Windows with the minimum amount of drivers required, so you won't have internet access, but it will perform scans faster because there are less resources running. It can also be easier to delete infected files because they may not yet be loaded into memory and hence be inaccessible.

By following the above suggestions, you should be able to keep your PC in tip-top shape, and help prevent spreading malicious files to colleagues and friends. Most of it is common sense, and if you follow the guidelines that the various software packages give you, there's nothing dreadful you can really do. Remember too that if you're using Windows ME, 2000 or XP, you also have a System Restore function available off the Start Menu that can often undo any problems, even if you've caused them yourself.