Fortunately, there are generous individuals and organizations who

have the facilities to review the work of the Anti-spyware

developers and make the results available for all of us everyday

users of the Internet.

The challenge for us is to know where to go for these results and

recommendations, and to know which of the anti-spyware and

anti-virus programs to use on our computers.

There are many web masters, newsletter, and Blog publishers who

constantly monitor the results published by the anti-spyware

reviewers. Most of them pass these information alerts on to their

readers and subscribers, often offering suggestions and advice

based on their own personal experiences and expertise.

A real benefit for us is that most of the top rated anti-spyware and

anti-virus programs are free, or available in Trial or Demo versions.

All we need do is find out where to get them. But first, we need to

find the reviewers who post the alerts.

If subscribing to newsletters and Blogs isn't your usual surfing

activity, you can do a search for security alert newsletters or

security alert blogs. For example, do a Yahoo search for "security

alert newsletter" (use the quotation marks to get the most

appropriate search results). Do the same for a Yahoo or Google

search on "security alert blog". (Blogs are web logs).

Investigate the first and second pages of the search results and

select three or four of the listings as a starting point. Many

newsletters are published on a monthly schedule and may not

contain the most current information. Some are published weekly.

They may be better choices.

Blogs are usually much more current since Blog authors often post

their information every couple of days - some even on a daily

basis.

Blogs are riding a major wave of popularity. For the serious

searchers of current information, this is a great benefit. There

aren't as many Blog sites as web sites yet, so it's often much

easier to find the information you're looking for.

Many Blog authors make their publications available for RSS (Real

Simple Syndication) readers. If you have added a RSS reader to

your browser, you can get up-to-the-minute alerts presented to

you automatically. You don't need to go looking for them.

Many updated browsers, like Netscape 8 and Firefox include this

feature as part of their package. Expect the newest Internet

Explorer to have a RSS Reader, too.

Don't be overwhelmed by all of the information you get. After doing

these searches and reviews once or twice, it will be a simple task

to select what you need to keep yourself current.

For starters, it is generally accepted practice to select and use at

least two anti-spyware programs. Choose from among the two or

three that receive the highest recommendations and ratings from

the newsletter and Blog authors. Be especially watchful for and

select one of those programs that provides 'Real Time' monitoring.

(Which means that they monitor and catch any incoming bugs that

may try to infect your machine while you are online).

Downloading instructions are nearly always present with the

reviews. If not, you'll find sites like c|net.com to be a good source

for download links.

Just don't forget to check for and update your security software.

The spyware writers won't give you a break if you do.