Safeguard your computer
Losses from computer viruses and other computer threats are more than $13 billion a year. Consumer Reports just tested 25 different software programs that promise to protect computers. Some just target one threat. Others, called “suites,” offer a combination of solutions to protect computers from spyware, spam, and viruses. Artificial viruses were created by an outside lab. Consumer Reports’ testers took special care to make sure the viruses only infected the test computers. The test viruses and the computers they were on were kept under lock and key. Tests were also run against spyware, which can cause a barrage of pop-up ads and cripple your computer.