The truth of malware today is that it is a cat-and-mouse game between the criminals/hackers and the security people. The hackers are ready to take advantage of every opportunity. Recently, former beauty contestant Carrie Prejean was in the news. It was just hours later that there were malware and spyware sites using the “Carrie Prejean” search to infect computers.

Firewalls and security products are absolutely necessary. This space makes it a regular habit of reminding our readers of the need to be active in protecting your computer and personal, confidential information. No antivirus or antimalware product can guarantee that they are a hundred per cent effective. It would be just an impossible guarantee because of the speed of the internet and the opportunities for crime.

For that reason, there is one product that we believe is necessary and that we recommend. That product is WinPatrol and there is really good reason for using this product.

Some malware can install without you having to do anything. These are the so called “drive-by” downloads. You probably would not know that a malware program has been installed. The hackers are that good at compromising your system. There is a way to protect your machine constantly. WinPatrol is like a watchdog for your computer. And like a great watchdog, it alerts you if there are any attempted changes on your machine. That means that you have a chance to stop a malware installation because WinPatrol has your machine under constant surveillance.

You decide whether to allow any changes on the machine. Even the changes that legitimate programs attempt to make will be noted. You have to allow permission. For example, some program you use now may ‘phone home’ and want to update. WinPatrol will alert you to see if you want this update. It is an extra layer of security – and it prevents a load of problems.

Bill Pytlovany is giving our readers a terrific discount on WinPatrol. Bill is a recognized security expert, with decades of experience. Bill is a recognized expert by Microsoft in their MVP program. Bill is reducing the cost of this program by ten dollars. Use the coupon code: Gnomes for the discount on WinPatrol. It supports “Supports Windows 98 – Windows 7 including x64 systems”.

The offer expires on November 25, 2009.

This is affordable protection. Malware still needs to install on your machine for it to work. WinPatrol gives you one last chance to stop an infection, even though you have a firewall and other security programs. There are many gnomies who would not be without WinPatrol on any of their computers. We recommend it without any hesitation – and it is a huge bargain at this price.

A Final Line on Malware Protection

The number of malware sites are increasing. IBM has reported an increased sophistication with attempts to infect computers. The frightening thing is that some malware is being pushed unknowingly by legitimate sites.

This is a danger to all computer users. However, there is one segment of our readers who are going back to school in a few days and increasing their downloading. As students, these computer users will be downloading for school work and for their own entertainment. You have to know that the downloading puts you at risk. Even visiting some seemingly innocent sites can put you at risk.

It is absolutely not true that if you stay away from so called “bad” sites that you can escape the dangers of malware. Even a file transfer from a friend or classmate could infect your machine. With the expertise and sophistication of today’s criminals, any site can be compromised and turned into a site that delivers malware. This may be a site that you use for school work. Just recently, on June 1, 2009, Ryan Naraine reported that 20,000 sites were “hit with drive-by attack code.”

A drive-by attack means that you don’t have to click anything and malware junk will find its way onto your computer. This garbage will install on your machine without asking for your permission. Then your computer is infected.

Your computer needs a constant watchdog. This is the concept of WinPatrol – and “Scotty” is the watchdog. WinPatrol runs in the background and the watchdog Scotty will give an alert when there are any changes attempted on your machine. Scotty will alert you if you are installing any program. This may be an annoyance, but it is minor. It shows that WinPatrol is doing its job. It will save so much trouble when there is a rogue program trying to install itself on your computer.

WinPatrol is easy on the computer resources and it is on many people’s “must have” list. This is a program that has an excellent history – and countless recommendations over the years. We are recommending this for every student. You must know if some rogue program is trying to install itself on your machine. And WinPatrol will tell you.

WinPatrol has been available for over ten years, thanks to the work of Bill Pytlovany. The improvement functions packed into this program will surprise you.

For the Lockergnome / Chris Pirillo readers, we have an exceptional offer. Until September 5, 2009, we have a ten-dollars-off ($10.00) savings from WinPatrol. We have tried to make this super-affordable to students. We know this is a rough time financially and hopefully this make it an affordable security program for you. Use coupon code: Gnomes when ordering!

Effective for any version of Windows – including Windows 7.

This is a security program that is recommended without any reservation. The people who use this program have nothing but good things to say about it. Bill Pytlovany is an trusted name in computer security. He is a recognized MVP by Microsoft – and he stands behind this product. If there is even a hint of a problem, let us know. We stay in touch with Bill. If you are a business and want this to secure all your desktop and laptop machine, let us know and we will see if Bill can help you.

Know When Something is Being Installed on Your Machine

There is a myth about computer security that survives. It goes something like this: ‘you can stay out of trouble if you don’t visit bad sites.’ This is not true. First of all, what defines a ‘bad’ site? And, with the expertise and sophistication of today’s criminals, any site can be compromised and turned into a site that delivers malware. For example, it may be an exploit of an existing flaw that has not been patched. So you could be exposed to malware by going a site that has been a regular Internet visit for years. Just recently, on June 1, 2009, Ryan Naraine reported that 20,000 sites were “hit with drive-by attack code.” Some security people are estimating that it is 40,000 sites.

A drive-by attack means that you don’t have to click anything and malware junk will find its way onto your computer. And this garbage will install on your machine without asking for your permission. Then your computer is infected.

Your computer needs a watchdog. This is the concept of WinPatrol PLUS and “Scotty” is the watchdog. WinPatrol PLUS runs in the background and the watchdog Scotty will give an alert when there are any changes attempted on your machine. Scotty will alert if you are installing any program. This may be an annoyance but it is minor. It shows that WinPatrol PLUS is doing its job. It will save so much trouble when there is a rogue program trying to install itself on your computer.

WinPatrol PLUS is easy on the computer resources and it is on many people’s “must have” list. A recent example is Steve Erbach. This is a program that has an excellent history – and countless recommendations over the years. WinPatrol has been available for over ten years, thanks to the work of Bill Pytlovany. The improvement functions packed into this program will surprise you.

For the Lockergnome / Chris Pirillo readers, we have an exceptional offer. Until June 10, 2009, we have a ten-dollars-off ($10.00) feature from WinPatrol PLUS. Use coupon code: Gnomes.

This is a security program that is recommended without any reservation. The people who use this program have nothing but good things to say about it. Bill Pytlovany is a trusted name in computer security. He is a recognized MVP by Microsoft – and he stands behind this product. If there is even a hint of an problem, let us know. We can reach Bill easily and so can you. He is @BillP on Twitter. That is one place he keeps an eye on current security issues. Stop by there and say “hi” to Bill – tell him you read our computer security stuff and thank him for this generous offer. He’s a good guy – and his WinPatrol PLUS program is just top notch.

A Watchdog for Your Computer Installations

Bill Pytlovany is well known within the internet security community. He is receiving some much deserved press recently from print publications. Bill was gracious in giving us some time and answering a few questions:

Bill, you are a Microsoft MVP. Can you tell us how you became interested in security software?

Yes, I’m very proud to have been awarded a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional with expertise in Consumer Security. Being an MVP allows me to hear directly from Microsoft developers so I know how serious they consider security.
Early on I was curious and started to dissect how viruses were able to move between floppy disks. The result was a more useful program that provided auto boot functionality for the Commodore 128. My program and research was published by “Run” magazine in the August 1986. My real interest started in the fall of 1997 when I was infected by an AOL password surfer attack. When I called AOL support for help, they told me that I couldn’t get back online until I formatted my hard drive. I knew there had to be a better way and the first version of WinPatrol was born.

How are some ways that WinPatrol defend against malicious programs (malware)?

The main way WinPatrol defends is by alerting users to a change and gives them the power to stop it. These days you don’t need to do something stupid to get malware on your computer. Just being connected to the internet can be enough. There are some things that malware must change to install itself and become dangerous. WinPatrol has over ten years experience monitoring critical internal areas and has a solid history of catching the bad guys. You should be the only one making changes to your computer and WinPatrol is designed to back you up.

As a security expert, what are three basics that you recommend for computer users – in addition to having WinPatrol on their machines?

It’s not easy to give generic advice without knowing more. Does the user have kids, are they active on social networks, have they heard of snopes.com, do they watch a lot of videos online, download music etc… Number one is a decent firewall to monitor network traffic. Second, would be to routinely run some kind of signature based AV scanner. How often depends on the user but it’s important that the signature files are updated regularly. Which AV scanner is the best changes every couple of months. Third and most important is to make sure you have the most recent Windows updates to protect against vulnerabilities. I don’t always recommend people update on the same day Windows updates are released but at some point they need to be protected. The same goes for updates of other installed programs like Adobe Flash or QuickTime which have a history of attacks on their vulnerabilities.

What will happen when Windows 7 is released? Will people who have WinPatrol need to pay for a update for that operating system?

There is never any addition cost for new versions. Upgrade to PLUS is not a subscription, it’s a one time fee. WinPatrol 2009 is all ready for Windows 7 in its current state. I have been keeping up with all new builds of Windows 7 so if anything does need to be updated it will be available immediately.

I know that you are constantly in product development. Can you give us some inside information on anything that you are doing? We promise to keep it just between you, us and the internet.

New features in WinPatrol are commonly based on user feedback. I have many ideas on the wish list and implement them based on security threats and frequency of feature requests. The security features of WinPatrol won’t change much unless Windows 7 introduces new ways for programs to auto run. There’s a lot of competition in the security market so most of the new features will be unique ideas that other companies haven’t considered. I don’t know of many other programs that monitor for changes in file associations, windows auto updates or UAC settings. I will continue to find unique settings that make a huge difference but aren’t obvious.

Thanks, Bill! ~ Tomorrow, we will be presenting Bill’s WinPatrol Plus program, with a ten dollar ($10.00) discount for our readers. Here’s a early look at the generous offer that Bill is giving to our readers!!

A Few Moments with Bill Pytlovany

Malware and spyware can infect your computer without your knowledge. Even if you are very cautious, a whole load of problems can happen with a simple mis-click or the wrong push of a button. Heck, your system can even become infected without your having to actually do anything. Some malicious sites have what are called “drive-by” malware installers. Their junk will install on your system without you having to do anything at all. Don’t worry, if you surf safe and stay away from unsavory sites, you shouldn’t have to worry about those. How do you surf safe? It’s simple, really:

This is where WinPatrol becomes critical to having a secure computer. Like a trusty watchdog, WinPatrol gives out a warning when there are any changes attempted on your machine. The icon for WinPatrol is (appropriately enough) a little “scotty” dog. This program runs in the background, and takes up little of your computer resources. You will notice WinPatrol when it spots a potential problem. You will be warned.

WinPatrol is on many “must have” lists. A recent example is Steve Erbach. This is a program that has an excellent history – and countless recommendations over the years. WinPatrol has been available for over ten years, thanks to the work of Bill Pytlovany. The improvement functions packed into this program will surprise you. Here is a list from Bill, with the included functions of WinPatrol.

For the Lockergnome / Chris Pirillo readers, we have an exceptional offer. Until February 17, 2009, we have a ten-dollars-off ($10.00) feature from WinPatrol. Use this link with coupon code Gnomes.

Consider this our Valentine’s gift to you (indeed, it would be a great ‘geek’ gift). This is a program that many trusted security people recommend. At this special price, it is more than affordable security software that will keep your computer settings under constant surveillance. Remember, this offer does end on February 17, 2009.

Special WinPatrol Savings for our Community