Last week, I noticed something wrong with my computer. Sometimes when I would hit a certain key, it would repeat itself. For example, if I hit "r" I would get "rr." I have a brand new HP computer with an equally new keyboard. I didn't think there was anything wrong with the keyboard. But, just to be sure, I changed keyboards with the new computer. I got the same results with the different keyboard. Now, I'm thinking I have a virus or trojan for sure. I run Avira as my antivirus program. It has caught everything in the past. In fact, I found it to be much better than AVG. So, I do a complete scan of my computer with Avira. It found nothing. I just had a feeling something wasn't right. So, I went to the Trend Micro Housecall web site. I downloaded it, updated it and lo and behold, my intuition was correct!. Housecall found something called "trojan dev downloader," which is practically the same thing as a keylogger.

Trend Micro Housecall got rid of it for me. At least, after doing another scan it didn't find anything else. Now, I do a lot of online banking, I make lots of purchases on ebay and other places. I used to be worried about that sort of thing. But, I really don't worry about it that much any longer.

The reason I don't worry (well, not completely. But, far less these days) is because of an addon for Firefox (it works on Internet Explorer as well) browser called Keyscrambler Personal Edition.  You can actually see it encrypting your strokes as you type. I installed this Firefox (if you are not using Firefox, why aren't you?) addon about three months ago. Now, I know hackers are getting tougher to stop witih all the new trojans, viruses and keyloggers they develop. But, if you have a program in your browser that is encrypting your every key stroke...well, that really is a protection for you against them! If you do a lot of transactions online (as I do) that require your personal information, I strongly urge you to 1) start using Firefox and 2) install the KeyScrambler Addon to your Firebox browser. It really gives me peace of mind. It probably saved me from identity theft as well.

Note:  This is the new link to download Keyscrambler Personal edition.  It is the one in the middle.  Click HERE. 





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