Freelance Geek: December 2009

It is critical that you provide basic protection for your personal computing environment to protect your com¬puter and any confidential data you may have on your computer.

As a general rule of thumb, it is strongly recommended you perform the following actions:
• Keep your computer desktop firewall turned on.
• Keep your operating system and other software patches up-to-date.
• Keep your antivirus software and antivirus signatures up-to-date.
• Perform regular (at least monthly) checks for adware, spyware, and other malware using a reputable utility.

Desktop Firewall and Anti-virus software or subscriptions can be purchased online or from computer resellers.
Here are some of the leading desktop firewall and antivirus software vendors. In many cases, vendors offer an Internet Security suite that combines a desktop firewall, antivirus, and sometimes other protections into a single package of tools made to work well together and provide better protection.

McAfee
Store - http://home.mcafee.com/Store
McAfee Threat Center (Virus Information) - http://vil.nai.com/vil
McAfee Avert Stinger Tool - http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger

Symantec
Store - http://shop.symantecstore.com
Norton Viruses & Risks - http://www.symantec.com/norton/security_response
Norton Removal Tools - http://www.symantec.com/norton/security_response/removaltools.jsp

Trend Micro
Store - http://store.trendmicro.com
Trend Micro Threat Encyclopedia - http://threatinfo.trendmicro.com

CA
Store - http://shop.ca.com
CA Global Security Advisor - http://www.ca.com/securityadvisor

Kaspersky
Store - http://usa.kaspersky.com/store
Kaspersky Virus List - http://www.viruslist.com

In addition to these leading commercial products, there are some very good firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-adware pro¬grams available for free on the Internet. Most free versions include updates, but any further support would require the person to upgrade to the commercial version.

Free Internet Security suite (firewall/anti-virus/anti-malware):
COMODO - http://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/free-internet-security.php

Free firewall programs:
Agnitum OUTPOST Firewall Free - http://free.agnitum.com
ZoneAlarm Free Firewall –
http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm

Free anti-virus programs:
AVG - http://free.avg.com
Avast Home Edition - http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Free anti-spyware programs:
Spybot - http://www.safer-networking.org
SuperAntiSpyware - http://www.superantispyware.com
ZoneAlarm Spy Blocker Toolbar - http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/spyblocker-download.htm

Free anti-adware program:
Ad-Aware - http://www.lavasoft.com

Free anti-malware programs:
Malwarebytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org
AVG LinkScanner - http://linkscanner.avg.com
Revo Uninstaller Freeware - http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

TIP
Don’t get popped by the pop-ups!
While browsing the internet, you may come across a pop-up window or ad that claims that your computer is infected with viruses, Trojans, etc., and offers to scan your system for free.
In most cases, these are scams trying to get their own malware, Trojan, or virus implanted into your system.
Close the “warning” and scan your own system with the software you installed or one from our list.
Surf Smart!

Uh oh, it's upgrade time again. Monday, the official Ruby 1.9 maintainer (Yuki Sonoda, a.k.a. Yugui) announced a heap overflow vulnerability in Ruby 1.9.1 and, subsequently, the release of Ruby 1.9.1-p376 (patch level 376). As the current production level release of Ruby, this is a crucial upgrade - unless you're still using Ruby 1.8.x, which isn't affected at all.

As well as fixing the vulnerability, Ruby 1.9.1-p376 also includes over 100 bug fixes on the previous release, none of which are particularly interesting. You can check this release's change log to see if anything affects you.

If you want to download Ruby 1.9.1-p376 now, the following URLs will work direct: