Marketing on a Shoestring

As internet marketers, we are constantly trying to improve ourselves. We subscribe to numerous lists, download Ebooks and business programs and except in very rare cases, it is usually safe to do so. I said usually, sometimes these downloads come with a little hidden surprise package and the net result could be disaster.

Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous marketers that will hide surprise packages in the form of spyware, viruses, keyloggers and other malware in what appears to be a program that you thought was intended to help you in your internet marketing campaign. You must protect yourself. While it is nice to be able to pay for the best internet protection packages, not all of us can afford to pay a small fortune for a comprehensive internet security package. There are a number of free alternatives and the ones that I am going to mention here are time proven effective programs.

Ad-Aware is no ordinary anti-spyware, it is the original anti-spyware product, offered to consumers worldwide to protect their personal and home computers from malware attacks. It is both free and effective. You can download the program at: http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Many people swear by Spybot Search & Destroy but I have found that it does not interact well with certain other programs. As a result, I no longer recommend it nor do I use it.

Another free download is SpywareBlaster 3.5.1 It prevents the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers,
dialers, and other potentially unwanted software. It will block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla/Firefox. It will also restrict the actions of potentially unwanted sites in Internet Explorer. It may be downloaded free at: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Of course you need a good anti-virus program. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition for private and non-commercial use at:
http://www6.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-virus/us/crp/2

Another suggestion, do not give out your primary email address. You can sign up for any number of free Gmail accounts at:
www.gmail.com. Although almost everyone that you deal with in the BizOp industry claims to have a solid privacy policy, My experience is that once you give out your address, you are going to receive some unwanted spam. I do not recomend Yahoo or AOL as they block spam at the server level and you may not receive information that you have actually requested.

One final note of caution. Due to federal regulations, many sites will ask for either your Social Security Number (SSN) or your federal
Employers Identification Number (EIN). It only takes a few minutes on the IRS website to apply and receive an EIN and it is far safer to give out your EIN. Allowing you SSN to be floating around on the web is just asking for identity theft. Remember that nothing is truly private on the internet. At least, if you use an EIN, some hacker in cyberspace won’t be able to steal you identity and charge up thousands of dollars in your name.

I hope that these suggestions help. Better to protect in advance than have to rebuild your entire operating system or worse yet, rebuild your credit rating after it has been destroyed..