Traffic Exchange websites can be of great help when you use it with spicy squeeze pages and for building opt-in lists at low or no cost. You can read more about it in the “Free Traffic” section if you want to know more. Surfing Traffic Exchange sites to gain traffic credits for your advertising needs can be rewarding, but how can you know for certain if a website being rotated in a Traffic Exchange isn’t doing nasty things to your computer, such as leaving a Trojan or installing ad-ware without your permission?

Even though Traffic Exchange owners have their system monitor new links added by the advertisers, rejecting sites plagued with excessive pop-ups or potentially malicious code, they cannot guarantee all sites to be 100% safe. Although it’s not my intention to scare you, my security tools have alerted me upon finding Trojans in T.E. sites several times. Just be a little careful, use the right tools and you won’t have to worry about it.

“Microsoft Security Essentials” is quite efficient, and it pretty much diminishes the need for a separate Antivirus & Anti-malware solution. As far as I am aware, it requires a valid Windows license to work. Pirated versions of Windows often have huge security holes anyway, in which case I would advice the user to switch to Linux.

So, with no further ado: use when surfing Traffic Exchanges

Antivirus & Anti-spyware: Microsoft Security Essentials

Why: It’s free, daily updates, easy on the CPU, excels at finding virus and spyware. When it does, it makes cleaning your system as simple as a mouse-click, then it knows which action usually is best to take in order to remove the threat. If you must use a standalone Antivirus, I recommend Avast Home Edition.

Preemptive Security Measures: Spyware Blaster

Why: Spyware Blaster does a terrific job with protecting your system even when it’s not running. It is available as free and a paid version (the paid version has an auto-update feature, otherwise they are the same). Spyware Blaster prevents Active-X based spyware and other harmful elements to be installed on your system. It also protects it against evil websites that could otherwise cause harm. I have not noticed any conflicts between MS Security Essentials and Spyware Blaster; they seem to go along just fine.

Antispam: Mozille Thunderbird (e-mail client)

Why not: Other than sorting filters sometimes disappearing, something which has already been reported to the developer team, Mozilla Thunderbird is, in my opinion, one of the best e-mail clients today. It blows Microsoft Outlook Express out of the water with its light weight, built-in antispam protection, customization and more, it’s free and I have used it for years with many e-mail accounts. It is also prepared for adding Google Gmail accounts.

Web Browser: Opera 10 or Mozilla FireFox 3.5 and up

Why (are you still using Internet Explorer?): Opera is by far my favorite web browser. It has mouse gestures, Turbo Surf and it had web tabs long before FireFox. I use both and consider them equally good. FireFox has a unique tilt feature; watch this YouTube video to see what I mean. The tilt function requires the computer to have an accelerometer. As for how useful it is: Musicians create sound with it, which is pretty cool! More importantly, though: both browsers are pretty safe. Avoid using browser add-ons you are not sure whether pose a threat or not. Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is relatively safe, but it remains the cyber terrorists main target because so many use it. So don’t.

Other Security Measures

Things are better today in terms of online security, despite all the scare talk in media regarding new cyber threats. Microsoft’s “Security Essentials” was a big step in the right direction, and competitors developing paid AV solutions are furious at Microsoft for giving it away for free. It is a powerful yet light-weight Antivirus and Anti-malware cannon packing a punch, obliterating any trace of malicious code, that would otherwise hide in the dark corners of your system, and strike when you least expected it.

I haven’t mentioned the importance of using a firewall, mostly because everybody with an up-to-date operating system already has one built into it, and in addition many have another firewall in their ADSL modem or WLAN router. If you want to learn how to secure your WLAN, have a look at this guide. It really isn’t that difficult, and even though it will not necessarily make your WLAN impenetrable to hackers, it will keep your nosy neighbors out.

In conclusion: computer viruses have become very advanced since the dawn of Internet. “Evil corps” like Microsoft possess enough resources to keep up with the virus developers and even get ahead, far enough to provide us with a satisfying level of protection. Spyware Blaster is also an excellent measure to prevent digital trash to enter your system. Ultimately though, common sense remains your main weapon when surfing online.

Happy (and safe) surfing!