Brennan’s Blog

I predicted that there would be a spike in spam and then a drop in January. The Register is reporting a mysterious drop in fraud and spam. Some speculate a recent earthquake in China knocked out internet connections for major spam servers. But the gradual and steady decline suggests a sudden quake could not be the cause.

Instead I believe the decline is due to the gradual increase of IE7 and Vista installations on home computers. With Windows running on the vast majority of computers the IE7 update will have a significant impact. Today Microsoft is reporting 100 million IE7 installations have been completed. I cannot be certain how well IE7 prevents "zombie" computers compared to IE6, but this may indicate it is having a very positive impact. And it is a fact that when a computer is wiped for a fresh Vista installation it will have a fresh start and hopefully stay clean. As the article states at the end, we must look for ways for sustain this decline. Together we can make that happen. Here are 3 steps you can take to prevent your computer from becoming one of these zombies.

1. Run the Windows update and get the latest security updates and IE7
2. Install and run ClamWin AV to clear malicious software from your computer
3. Configure automatic Windows updates to run weekly

Alternatively, you can wipe your system and install Vista or a fresh install of Windows XP with IE7.