Internet Security

As a US Govt employee, I am privileged to have access to free internet security to load onto my home system(s). I am given a choice between Symantec (Norton) and McAfee. Both of these anti-virus programs work fine, but they seem to bog down my system's resources.

As it happens, when I loaded up Windows 7 on Megan's computer, I also loaded Symantec anti-virus. The version I was using seemed to work on Megan's computer, but the Windows 7 OS told me it was disabling a driver associated with the Symantec program. This concerned me.

I actually hate thinking about internet security. I try not to use thumb drives from other people and I don't download pirated music and videos. That along with the fact that I am fairly conservative in the sites I go to (I go to the same sites all the time: MSN, Yahoo, Google, Amazon), I feel like I would be wasting my money paying for one of the high-end, popular AV programs. Bear with me, this is going somewhere...

Anyway, since it appeared my free symantec was not compatible with Windows 7, I decided to totally remove it and load up Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free from Microsoft, provided you have a genuine copy of Windows on your system, and in conjunction with the Windows firewall, should cover me for all of my internet needs. As far as Megan is concerned, I hope it covers her, but even if it doesn't, her system is free of any of my usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, etc. If I were a little more careless in my internet surfing habits, I would consider two other free programs in conjunction with each other to cover down on my security: AVG and Zone Alarm.

After running the Microsoft security program, Megan's system seems to be lightning fast and I can breath a little easier that she is, at least minimally, covered against computer threats.

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I am back at work today, but it is just me and the boss. Everyone else is gone. Either sick, on leave or TDY. Not sure if that will make it a quick day or a slow day. Only time will tell.

Back to work for me...