In my first post on this thread (
New Pc on It's Way!!! Yeaaah!!!) I suggest a free service that e-mails you a list the most important security threats weekly. Here's a snap shot of the latest:
"Widely Deployed Software
(1) CRITICAL: Adobe Shockwave Player Pointer Overwrite Vulnerability
(2) HIGH: Google Chrome HTTP Response Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
(3) HIGH: Foxit Reader JPEG2000/JBIG Decoder Multiple Vulnerabilities
(4) MODERATE: Bopup Communication Server Buffer Overflow Vulnerability"
Usually the list is longer. You can take a quick look at the list and see if it applies to the software on you computer and then scroll down to the detail description. For example this months #1.
Begin quote:
"(1) CRITICAL: Adobe Shockwave Player Pointer Overwrite Vulnerability
Affected:
Adobe Shockwave Player version 11.5.0.596 and prior
Description: Adobe Shockwave Player, with over 450 million users, is a
multimedia player created in Adobe Director and allows its applications
to be published and viewed by a browser installed with a Shockwave
plug-in. It has an invalid memory overwrite error which might lead to
remote code execution. The specific flaw is in the way a vulnerable
Shockwave Player allocates memory while parsing a specially crafted
Director file. An attacker will have to trick an unsuspecting user to
load the malicious Director file; for example by enticing the user into
visiting a web site that hosts the malicious file.
Status: Vendor confirmed, updates available."
End Quote
Using the SANS e-mail alerts (
http://www.sans.org/newsletters/)have helped me big time in keeping my computer virus free for over a decade. Highly recommended.