Chapter 1

Spies, Spams, Scams — They’re Out to Get You

In This Chapter

arrow Determining which hazards and hoaxes to look out for

arrow Keeping up to date with reliable sources

arrow Figuring out whether you’re infected

arrow Protecting yourself

Windows XP had more holes than a prairie-dog field. Vista was built on top of Windows XP, and the holes were hidden better. Windows 7 included truly innovative security capabilities; it represented the first really significant break from XP’s lethargic approach to security.

Windows 8 included marginal security improvements to Windows itself, but better safety nets to keep you from shooting yourself in the foot. Also a fully functional, very capable antivirus program was built in. That’s important. Windows 8.1’s security improvements over Win8 were marginal, but at least we didn’t go backwards.

Windows 10’s biggest contribution to your security? Microsoft finally, finally got rid of Internet Explorer. “Got rid of” is a bit of an overstatement; IE is still around, sitting in a formaldehyde jar, ready to be used if you really need it for compatibility. But Microsoft ...

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