 Saturday, February 1, 2020 in Security  No Comments |  |  A program that spies on your computer activity is one of the most dangerous forms of malware. It won't present you with a ransomware request or announce it's deleting your files. Instead, it'll hide silently on your system, watching and recording all your computer activity.
Spyware can do everything from hijacking your webcam feed to recording your keyboard inputs. The culprits ultimately aim to collect enough of your personal data to steal your identity, take over your accounts, or expose your digital life in other ways. To minimize the odds of an unwanted program taking root on your machine, follow our guide to staying spyware-free.
Secure Your System
To start with, you`ll need to establish solid protection for your computer. Most antivirus programs for both Windows and macOS will protect against keyloggers, webcam hackers, and other types of spyware, especially if you vigilantly keep this software up to date.
How do you choose? You won`t find a "one-size-fits-all" security solution for everyone. For most home computers, free software should provide an adequate level of protection, but paying for an upgraded version of the program will increase your chances of staying safe.
We chose four of the most effective and intuitive free antivirus tools we've used in recent years. They all receive high scores from AV-Comparatives—an organization that independently assesses antivirus software—even compared to excellent fee-based programs such as Avira and McAfee. Although none of the following options specialize in fighting spyware, all of them include some defenses against that type of malicious program. As long as you install one of these packages, you'll massively reduce your system's risk of infection.
Our picks are Windows Defender (included with Windows 10), AVG Free (free for Windows and macOS, but with the option to subscribe to a "full" version for $90 per year), Bitdefender (free for Windows, with the option of an upgraded version that includes macOS support and costs $90 a year), and Avast (for Windows and macOS, upgraded version costs $70 and $60 a year, respectively). If you upgrade these programs to paid-for versions, you'll gain extras like enhanced web-link scanning to catch dodgy URLs, more comprehensive options for proactively preventing attacks, and secure file storage.
Alongside your main security product, we recommend that you install secondary protection. For Windows, we like the free Spybot Search & Destroy, which works alongside your regular antivirus package, performing deep scans as an extra layer of defense against infectious code. If you suspect that your computer suffers from spyware, but your normal antivirus tool isn't picking it up, try digging deeper into your system with the secondary Windows security program Norton Power Eraser. In a similar vein, Trend Micro's HouseCall serves as an extra scanner on top of your current security package, and it works from your web browser, which allows it to cover any type of operating system.
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