When we say the word malware, we use it to mean a wide range of attacks. If you hear it used, then you know that the person is talking about something bad that has been installed  on your computer. When we say something bad, we mean a virus, Trojan, worm, rootkit, and a whole host of other data that can help ruin your computing experience. A company that makes an operating system has to be concerned in the many ways, that people will try to manipulate that same operating system for their own mischievous means. For every hole that the company fixes, ten more are found. As long as an operating system, and the programs that run on it, consist of millions of lines of code, there will always be holes in the machines. Luckily, there are ways that you can stop the most general attacks from happening to your computer. Some of the ways consist of common sense, and other ways consist of the proper software  being installed on Windows 7. We will walk you through the several steps that you will need to take, so that you can be quite sure that your computer is protected when you surf the internet.

The first thing that we will talk about, is what kind of software you will need to protect Windows 7. There are three basic types of software that will do the job. After you know what type you will need, you can then use Google and determine what brand of the software that you want to use. Remember there are free versions that are just as good as the paid versions. But it might be worth it to you to get a paid version, since the free versions usually do not offer support for their product.

The three main types of software that you will need to protect your computer are anti virus, anti spyware, and a proper firewall. An anti virus will work to keep any kind of malware from attacking your computer. When you download a new piece of software, it will automatically examine it and see if it is safe to have on your computer. Once it determines that software is safe, it will let you install it with no problem. The next piece of software that you need, is one that will get rid of spyware. Spyware are little programs that will monitor your activity on the internet and report it back to someone. If you go to a web page and the item on the page hits a keyword, it will then show you a pop up. They want to direct you to their advertisers, instead of the one on the page that you are visiting. And lastly, you will need a firewall on your computer. This will help keep your ports closed and if a bad piece of software does make it through the other two layers of protection, this will help stop that software from calling home.

As for the common sense portion of this article, you just need to follow a few simple rules. First, never trust anything you download, especially if comes from your email. No matter what you download, always scan it with an anti virus. It does not matter if you know the person who sent it. Scan it anyway. Second, always be careful of what links you click. Sending someone to a bad web page is the easiest way to infect their computer. Only click links from people you trust.

If you follow these simple rules, then you can avoid your computer being taken over by an infection from the bad guys.