Dos and Don’ts to protect your computer from Viruses and Malicious Internet Programs Posted by Stranger on 5:39 AM Digg it Bookmark it Stumble it Email to friend

So after reading a lot from internet and making a good collection of tips about what to do and not to do on internet.
Here is the list of dos and don'ts for protecting your computer from unwanted internet worms, Viruses and Malicious Internet Programs :

• DO use your common sense.
• DO feel at ease on the internet. The majority of people are not looking to harm you.
• DO allow your children to play games. Games are not malware-infested.
• DO take care in what websites you visit. If it looks like PayPal, works like PayPal, and sends e-mails from PayPal, it must be PayPal—not.
• DO save unsolicited e-mails, when possible. Authorities may be interested.
• DO report unsolicited mass-emails to services such as SpamCop.net.
• DO look for alternative means of income on a website. If a site appears unable to sustain itself with the services/products it offers, proceed with caution, but do recognize that the site is likely still legitimate.
• DO get a nice, free, nonintrusive anti-malware tool, such as Avira. Personally, I have had poor experiences with Avast, Mcafee, ZoneAlarm, AVG, and ClamWin.Spybot Search & Destroy, AdAware SE, and Avira all have my mark of approval.
• DO consider paying for a product such as Norton if you are continuously torrenting. From my experience, Norton, Kaspersky, and Panda Security have the best heuristics, which is important for peer-to-peer file sharing.
• DO note any unusual computer behavior in case you really do have malware.
• DO recognize that most malware will not visibly affect your computer. You won't know it's there unless it wants you to know.
• DO remember that what happens on the Web, stays on the Web. Avoid downloading, installing, or running anything unless you (1) know what it is, (2) have verified its reputation with at least 3 reputable review sites, and (3) trust the publisher.
• DO enable "View known file extensions" in Windows Explorer.
• DO teach your children about internet safety.

• DON'T download or run software from websites you have not verified.
• DON'T respond, read, or otherwise acknowledge unsolicited e-mails. Send them straight to your archives.
• DON'T assume that a website will give you malware. You have to manually download and run the malware.
• DON'T pirate (illegally obtain) software. Torrents are breeding grounds for small-scale trojans, most of which won't be picked up by your malware detection software.
• DON'T rely on anti-malware software. They rely on lists of known malware; even the best scanners have a heuristics detection rate of only about %10.
• DON'T trust advice from anyone looking to sell you a product. That includes the media.
• DON'T click on popups. Close them immediately.
• DON'T respond to unsolicited messages stating that you are "unprotected" or "have ### viruses." Click the "X" in the corner of the window—don't even click "Cancel" or "No." Put the site you were visiting on your mental blacklist.
• DON'T acknowledge chain e-mails.
• DON'T respond to hoaxes claiming that "zero-day" exploits discovered "yesterday" will destroy "sector zero." Inform whomever sent the message of their mistake. He/She has clearly succumbed to the paranoia.
• DON'T pay for anti-malware software if you aren't visiting high-risk sites on a regular basis. You are wasting your money.
• DON'T use anti-malware tools that invest heavily in marketing and come pre-installed. The most notable members of this group are Mcafee and ZoneAlarm.
• DON'T install more than one anti-malware suite on a single computer. Free tools that only run when you explicitly invoke them, such as Spybot Search & Destroy (with Tea Timer disabled) and AdAware SE, are safe to install with other security software. Generally, you should not have more than one security-related icon in your notification area at any given time.
• DON'T run a malware scan more than twice each month. Generally, more than one scan per month on average denotes paranoia.
• DON'T assume you have malware. Buggy software can cause all sorts of problems, while most malware is undetectable to the untrained eye.
• DON'T pay for Antivirus 2009, Antivirus 2010, etc. That is name of a common scam, and is itself malware. If you are infected, it will annoy you with popups until you purchase Antivirus 20##.
• DON'T assume that software recommended/provided by friends and family is safe.
• DON'T use screensavers. They waste energy, and pretty much all free screensaver sites embed malware in their screensavers.
• DON'T use internet Explorer. It is light-years behind other web browsers, and is historically more prone to exploits.
• DON'T assume that you are safe because you use Mac/Linux/BSD. You are very, very wrong. The only virus I have ever (unintentionally) received was a small-scale ILOVEYOU look-alike targetting—you guessed it—Macs.
• DON'T assume that children are malware magnets. Usually, it's the adults who unknowingly install the malware. The children just take the blame and lose a perfectly harmless videogame.