Have You Noticed A Drop In Spam…You Need AVG Anti-Virus
For Your Mortgage Business

Have you noticed a sharp reduction of spam email in the last couple of weeks? I certainly have! This is great news…right? Maybe not…you need to read this entire article and find out why…

About two weeks ago (November 11 to 13, 2008) a Web host company called McColo was taken offline. The company is accused of knowingly helping spammers. Its servers allegedly hosted botnet control type infrastructures and software using hacked PC’s as well as using domains offering fake anti-virus solutions, pornography, and a lot more dirty tricks.

Since McColo was taken offline, spam levels have dropped considerably and by some accounts, there has been an 80 percent decline. According to data provided by SpamCop.net, the amount of spam averages 30.1 messages per second. Since McColo’s downfall the average has dropped to only 11.9 messages per second.

Experts agree that spammers won't be deterred so easily. In fact many predict that spam levels will be back to normal in short order. And this is bad news if you use the Internet and are even a casual Web surfer. Spammers will need to rebuild their botnets (malicious networks and capture software)…so, there will likely be a surge in Trojans.

Just so you know, our government was not at all involved in this ultimate take-down. Why they weren’t I’m not sure…it’s probably a good topic for another day.

For many months a company called Security Fix gathered data from the security industry about McColo Corp., a San Jose, Calif., based Web hosting service whose client list experts say includes some of the most disreputable cyber-criminal gangs in business today. They actually tracked and then documented (in a flowchart) McColo’s network.

Security Fix then contacted the Internet providers that manage more than 90 percent of the McColo’s connection to the larger Internet, and sent them the detailed information about how bad McColo actually was.

In what is considered unique, Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric, the two ISPs providing Internet access for McColo, took it upon themselves after reviewing the information, to sever all connections to the facility.

Here’s the really bad news…shutting down hosting companies may help in the short term, but those people that are responsible for the spam and malware will probably be able to find another Web host without too much difficulty.

Even though the shutting down of one spammer eliminated 78 billion spam messages per day, you need to protect yourself more than ever from spam and malicious sites. You see…they’ll be back with a vengeance. As of November 15, 2008, McColo was back on-line on a very limited basis.

So…how do you protect yourself and your Mortgage Business? The answer, use a good anti-virus software like AVG. There’s no affiliate link or commission here, just good advice based on my experience.

Let me begin by saying that I’ve used all of the well known anti-virus name brands including the trial versions usually supplied with a new computer. Don’t get me wrong, they all worked…some better than others. Unfortunately, they all had their little quirks which I found irritating.

Based on a recommendation about three (3) years ago, I purchased AVG Anti-Virus Software and have been an advocate ever since.

Here are the main features of my AVG Anti-Virus Software…

1. Anti-Virus…Protects your computer from viruses, worms, and Trojans.
2. Anti-Spyware…Protects your computer from spyware, adware, and other malicious programs.
3. Email Scanner…Scans incoming and outgoing email.
4. Link Scanner…Blocks dangerous websites and checks links on the most popular search engines for threats.
5. Web Shield…Checks network traffic for possible threats and disallows dangerous connections.
6. Resident Shield…Works in the background and checks all files that you work with.
7. Update Manager…Manages automatic updates from the Internet or local network.
8. Anti-RootKit…Searches for rootkits hidden in your operating system.
9. System Scan…You can schedule a scan (once a week is good) of your system which looks for, isolates, and possibly repairs “bad stuff.”

Yes, many of the other Anti-Virus programs incorporate many of the same features. I have found AVG easy to install and easy to use compared to others I have used. The version I recommend is “AVG Pro” which includes all of the above features and is currently priced at $39.99.

Even though I purchased “AVG Pro” it includes all of the features of “AVG Internet” at $54.99. So, keep that as our little secret and only commit to the $34.99 version.   

When I renewed a few months ago they gave me a great deal (half price) which is kind of unique since they already had me captive. You can find them at http://free.avg.com/. There is a very limited free version available that I don’t recommend.

At this point, AVG has been installed on my systems for over three (3) without a single incident. Since I am on the Internet a goodly amount of time uploading and downloading information, it has identified a number of potential problems…but my computers have never been hacked, or infected by any viruses or Trojans.

Remember…you’re the only one that can actually protect your computers and your Mortgage Business from the bad guys in the world. Nobody else really cares…except me of course…so feel free to add both AVG Anti-Virus and me to your short list!

Tom Domin is the author of "101 Ways to Originate Mortgages" and publisher of "Tom's Mortgage Tips" a twice monthly Mortgage Newsletter geared for Mortgage Professionals. Put your mortgage career on the fast track and sign-up for FREE at http://www.MortgageMarketingToolKit.com/

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