What Is A Reasonable Risk?

Security is still a major problem for seniors wanting to become computer literate. They seem to divide into two major groups. One group is extremely paranoid and afraid to surf or download anything. The other group blithely goes about clicking on the latest moving banner to see if they won the free trip to Las Vegas or whatever. Much of my tutoring in security is centered on striking a balance that allows my students to feel comfortable with reasonable risks.

What is a reasonable risk? That is not a well-posed question. The answer depends on the inner feelings of the person being asked the question. Some people do not carry more automobile insurance than the minimum required to get a license. Others pay for and carry large umbrella policies. The same goes for computer security. The difference is that, to make a reasoned decision, one has to understand the system. Most people have a good feeling for the risks of driving and getting slapped with a hefty lawsuit. But most computer naive students have no mental model on which to build expectations of safety. The best thing that a tutor can do is to educate them on the process rather than simply install some protections.

So when clients ask me what anti-virus software is best, I go through the list of the common names of software providers and give them my own experiences and comments — like which ones are resource hogs and which have good ratings by savvy editors. But when it comes to the crunch, I suggest they go for whatever is free to get started. They can change later. That might mean downloading AVG or going to Fry’s for the latest Norton or McAfee special. But I emphasize that no software eliminates the need for developing good habits, especially with email.

BTW, I suggest defining a bogus email contact with an unlikely name. I use something like “Aaaabogus” just so that it will be at the top of the list. Then I assign one of my own addresses to the bogus contact. If Aaaabogus ever gets an email message, I know something is wrong. It is a cheap way to add another layer of protection. If might not help, but it does not hurt. But do not actually use “Aaaabogus.” Pick something that is not likely to be known, and do not talk about it. You can get some practical joke messages depending on the types of friends you have.

Then I try to get them to understand the difference between the various forms of malware and why they might want to add Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware to their arsenal. Lately I have been also adding the trial version of Counterspy. It does a good job and the company is righteous. It gives you 15 days of free use of the full version. Other companies often disable features of their trial versions so that you can see what good they would have done for you if only you had sent them some money. Maybe I am fond of Counterspy because it found a troublesome Trojan on my wife’s business computer after several other attempts to locate the problem failed.

Finally, and this is important, I emphasize to clients that if they want to change anti-virus software, they must completely uninstall the old one first. I have had clients who had Norton, McAfee, and Zone Alarm all installed at once! It did not work right. Other clients who are a bit more aware have deleted files of the old software before installing the new software thinking that if they did not see the old software in Explorer that it was gone and they were safe. That type of problem can lead to nasty issues which in turn can lead to an expedition into the registry.

So now we come to Vista. One of the first questions clients ask is “Is it more safe than XP?” Then after they use it for a while, they ask, “Is all that necessary?” My answer to the first question is “That is what Microsoft says and why they built it the way they did.” My answer to the second one has not been formulated satisfactorily yet.

Click here to read about my new tutorial on helping seniors. The new version has grown considerably over the original. It has more topics and anecdotes, and fewer typos. While you’re at it, check out my expanded tutorial on decision theory.