The Security Mentor

Consumer Reports for September recommends products and actions for slowing down the most common threats to a home user. They did a pretty good job, which doesn't always happen when they write about something technical.

They offer a clever trick to use if you suspect you're visiting a phony web site that impersonates eBay or PayPal to deceive you into giving them your password. Of course, I say don't go there in the first place, but if you do, try giving them the wrong password to start with. eBay knows your real password and will make you try again. A scammer is trying to find out your password and will let you in no matter what you type. If the wrong password gets you in, you're in the wrong place and should get out. (This won't always work! Some scammers have started forwarding your password to the real destination after they record it).

Check out their product ratings. Their ratings aren't too far from the general buzz on the net.

Consumer Reports did leave out any mention of the need to replace Internet Explorer, or the fact that so far malicious software mostly hasn't targeted the Macintosh or Linux operating systems.

Bad news

They did a survey and found that three percent of the people who'd gotten spam had ordered something from it. Not only did those people help keep spammers in business, they probably got taken as well. Remember, "if it's spam it's a scam". Reputable companies use more ethical forms of advertising.