Are you using antivirus software from Symantec, McAfee or Trend Micro?

According to experts, these best-sellers are far less likely to detect new viruses and Trojans than the least popular ones.

The reason: Malware authors are specifically testing their viruses and Trojans against these best-sellers to make sure they can bypass them before unleashing their malware into the world.

Gartner’s figures for 2005 show that Symantec is the leader with 53.6% of the market. McAfee and Trend Micro own 18.8% and 13.8% of the market respectively.

“If you are running these pieces of software [from Symantec, McAfee, or Trend Micro], 8 out of 10 pieces of malicious code are going to get in[to your computer].” said Graham Ingram, general manager of the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT).

The solution: Use antivirus solutions from vendors with small market share.

One vendor Ingram mentioned was Russian outfit Kaspersky, which in the same tests managed to block around 90% of new malware. According to Gartner, Kaspersky’s market share is a mere 0.7%.

Another solution: Run two or more antivirus applications (which many big firms do), but at most one from the best-sellers list or none at all (hopefully, big firms do this too).

If you’re already using one from Symantec, McAfee or Trend Micro, consider adding another like Kaspersky, Panda Software, AVG by Grisoft, and NOD32 by Eset.

Is your system safe right now? Find out for sure: Use each of their FREE scanners to check your system now. And if need, you can use their FREE removal tools to clean your system too.

Cute boy meets pretty girl. Boy asks for girl’s phone number, but girl was afraid boy may turn out a weirdo. But he IS cute, and she DOES hope to keep in touch.

Tough decision, but not anymore with Private Phone.

Launched by Internet provider NetZero, you can get your very own disposable phone number from Private Phone. The price tag - FREE!

You won’t need an extra phone line, as your disposable number works with your existing number. Simply sign-up online, select the area code and number and you’re done. When people call your disposable number, they’re forwarded to a voicemail automatically, and you’ll get an email or text message notification. You can then retrieve online or by phone.

Need more than one disposable numbers? No problem. Open multiple accounts and close them whenever you like. The best part (did I mention this service is FREE) is that the callers won’t even know they’re not reaching your real number! Each voicemail account can only hold 10 messages, so do keep it clear to keep receiving calls.

Alright, there are other uses of disposable numbers that can come in handy:

1. On classified ads
2. When you sign-up with certain Web sites, in case they share the number you provided
3. Post on your Web site or blog

How will companies like Private Phone change the dating scene? Will it lead to infidelity? Will fraud increase? Would you get one?