I need a smart person to tell me aobut spyware and firewall protection. What happens if I don't

have them? maybe I should ask, what COULD happen if I don't have them?

What do they do? I'm a computer challenged person.

I need a smart person to tell me aobut spyware and firewall protection. What happens if I don't?moto guzzi

From my boyfriend:

spyware protection programs scan and remove the spyware from your computer. Spyware can be: tracking cookies, trojans, key loggers, etc. Most spyware programs will scan and clean your system and also protect you while surfing the net. A good free spyware program that has been given high review marks is ad-aware and spybot. Both are free and can be download from download.com

As for firewall protection, a software firewall prevents access going in and out of your computer. A good free firewall is ZoneAlarm. You can get it from download.com also. Once you install ZoneAlarm it will always ask you if you want to permit certain programs access to the internet. At first you will get a lot of pop ups from ZoneAlarm asking for access, but after a few days you won't be seeing the same pop ups.

I would suggest a good anti-virus software too. They also scan for spyware also. A good free anti-virus program in AVG Free Edition Anti-virus. You can get it from download.com. It is also highly reviewed.

If you don't have these programs, your system will not be safe. Spyware, trackers, keyloggers can be accessed by hackers and they could see all your information. For example, using your credit card to buy something or logging into you bank account.