McAfee’s broken protection racket

Security software is a necessary evil. Sometimes the problems it causes are almost as bad as what it’s supposedly protecting against. For example, in the process of preventing spyware from slowing down Windows, anti-spyware software tends to… slow down Windows.

You’re lucky if slowness is the only downside to running real-time protection. McAfee has managed to cripple thousands of Windows XP users with its latest security update, which mistakenly quarantines an essential system file:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20003074-83.html

This is what I do for Windows security at home:

• Use limited user accounts
• OpenDNS content filtering
• Microsoft Security Essentials

That’s it. And none of them cost anything except the time and effort to set up. Oh, and something else. If you use a mail client like Outlook Express or Thunderbird, pre-screen your mail with a web browser and delete anything suspicious before downloading it.