One of the very few things I do miss about living in Linux is escaping a world full of viruses, malware and spyware that keeps on infesting machines running on all versions of Microsoft Windows.

After running Ubuntu Linux on my primary machine for a year, I came to take for granted the fact that I didn’t need to run a combination of Anti Virus, Firewall, Malware and Spyware scanners to keep my computer clean and free of the bad stuff.

These resource-hungry applications have to keep on running in the background for the duration of your computer sessions for real protection. And you also have to schedule scans that can take upwards of two hours to complete, at least once a week, to try to ensure your system is really free of all those rogue applications and processes that can do serious damage to the health of your computer.

Why did I forget all this fun stuff?

Back to life in Windows

I’ve been running Kaspersky Internet Security since I migrated back to Microsoft Windows (XP and Vista). KIS is probably a little lighter on resources than Symantec Internet Security and definitely the latest bloated up editions McAfee. But I had forgotten I needed to compliment my security with Malware protection and detection until yesterday.

I installed the freeware version of the product I always used in the past AdAware and performed a scan. Immediatelly the software detected two instances of trojans that had wormed their way onto my system. It also found phoning home software that had arrived via an apparent exploit in one of the web browsers I use.

I was then recommended to try an evaluation copy of CounterSpy by Sunbelt Software. The product costs $20 a year after the 15 day trial, but I’m told this is the superior anti-malware/spyware product now that power Windows users are relying on. So I figured I’d give it a shot.

I installed and updated the CounterSpy detection databases and then performed a full system scan that lasted almost 2 hours. CounterSpy had picked up yet another trojan in a shareware application I had retrieved from one of the more popular download site (whose name I won’t mention).

So it looks like I’ll be needing to run at least two different spyware programs to compliment my internet security product from Kaspersky.

Thanks Linux

All of this reminds me to be thankful for migrating my family over to Ubuntu Linux machines who primarily use their systems to simply surf the internet and check email.

Since the time I moved my family to Ubuntu desktops, I haven’t received a single phonecall asking for help because they are unable to access websites or their computer is running really slowly after installing some junk on their machine.

So it’s true Linux does serve a valuable purpose on some desktops.