Hi Lean Friends,
This is kind of a special post/article about a Lean Tool I use to help me on my computer.
Stay with me for a minute here… Lean is about reducing waste and continuous improvement. I’m sure we can probably agree on that.
Well, a couple of months ago I had a major computer crash due to a “trojan,” a piece of malicious code that came into my system and totally kicked its’ butt! Yeah, we’re talking “blue screen of death” kind of thing! It was horrible!
It took me several days of work to repair my computer and it was extremely frustrating. Good thing there wasn’t a hammer nearby, or things might have turned out differently ; – ) In the end, I had to reformat the hard drive and start over. And, I sort of hate to admit it, but this wasn’t the first time this has happened to me over the years. Unfortunately, you probably know exactly what I’m talking about.
Anyway, I did a fair amount of research about what I could do to prevent this from ever happening again (think preventative maintenance.) I mean, all of that downtime was a lot of WASTE! Being a Lean Manufacturing guy there was just no way I could accept that kind of waste; so I had to do something about it.
This is where the “Continuous Improvement” part comes in.
I found a program called Malwarebytes and you can find it at this link Malwarebytes It is the program that would have saved me from all that trouble, frustration and of course, WASTE. I now have Malwarebytes running very quietly in the background on all of my computers and it is actively keeping spyware, trojans, viruses and malware of every kind out of my system. It is awesome!
Malwarebytes does not have conflicts with my other security software “Norton” or “MacAfee” (which I used to run.) By the way… Norton was, and is, still running on my computer, but did not catch the malware that took my system down! Every computer guru and web forum I went to said… “you need Malwarebytes too.”
Well, I listened, and now have my copy set to update every single day. It is definitely in “Continuous Improvement” mode! In fact, it adds about 10 new threats to it’s protection database almost every day. That’s 10 new viruses or trojans that didn’t exist yesterday!
You can get the free version, but that’s really not what you want… trust me on this one. The paid version is just under $25 and will run in the “background,” meaning it runs whenever your computer is on. It is totally worth the money and may save your rear… or at least your hard drive. ; – )
Now, I didn’t create the program and I don’t offer any sort of guarantee or software support services, or anything like that. That’s all up to the Malwarebytes folks, not me. But I will tell you this; when I first installed it, the default settings were to tell me every time it encountered any sort of malware.
Well that thing popped-up every few seconds for days on end! It even popped-up when I wasn’t surfing the net or using my email. I have a cable modem and (as it turns out,) you are always on the net even when you think you aren’t! Nasty little viruses and trojans are inviting themselves into your computer all the time. Malwarebytes, and I imagine, with some help from Norton, are the gatekeepers to protect you from those vile intrusive buggers.
So, in the “spirit of Lean,” do yourself a huge favor and buy Malwarebytes! I did, and I give it my strongest recommendation. If you’re not so sure it’s right for you, then you may want to at least download the free version (which will NOT run in the background.) It will show you everything your current security software is missing. Prepare to be amazed!
If this helps you, and I’m sure it will, be sure and send your friends this link and help them out too: Malwarebytes
Leaner is Better!
Bill
P.S. I don’t make a habit of endorsing products very often. Malwarebytes has impressed me and helped me eliminate waste from my computer so I really wanted to spread the word. I hope you like it as much as I do!