Security programs: the good, the bad, and the ugly...

Call me a cynic, but I've often wondered if some of these security companies are purposely peddling these scare stories to get us to sign up for their brand of so-called protection. Like they're going to sit on your modem with a shotgun, and blast the bad guys coming down the wire, or something. Your best security is still a good healthy suspicion of strangers, uninvited solicitations, and obvious scams.

This article mentions the one where some phoney pretends to be a tech from Windows who needs you to activate your Remote Access feature so he can help remove a virus they have detected on your machine. I've been called several times by these guys, and instead of hanging up the last time, I asked him if he had ever heard of a program called 'MoveOnBoot' made by EMCO in Iceland.
He said yes, he had heard of it. And I said, "I'm a friend of Igor's at EMCO and he is the guy who created that program, and with it, I can remove anything on this computer without any help from anyone. And I have more bad news for you: Microsoft doesn't call anyone to ask permission to take control of your computer. They are much too busy for that, and if you have a problem, and need to call their technicians, they charge about $100.00 for helping you with your problem. They do not work for free. So please stop calling me. I know you are not who you say you are, and I do not need any help." And so far, I haven't heard from him since.

If you want a good security program, look at the recommendations you will find on one of those "Ten best of..." lists, and pick one that has what you want, and remember that they aren't all the same. Some work better than others, and some try to take over your whole computer to manage it for you - and those ones I avoid. I'm the only one who controls this computer. An ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure.