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Get Your Emails Organized, Part II : Fight Spam !
In the last few years the extent of Spam (unsolicited email) has multiplied a hundred times. Have you taken measures to reduce spam to a minimum ? If not, I will give you some hints how you can fight this new evil of the information age . Those...
Make-Or-Break Factors - When Considering Estimating Software
For quick printers, estimating can prove to be a major factor in the success or failure of their business. When a customer requests a bid on a job, they need a fast turnaround, and the best price. For a printer, there are two important issues;...
Putting Screensavers Under Control
No matter how much you enjoy your favorite screensavers, sometimes they can be rather annoying. Don't like them interrupting your presentations? Hate them disturbing you watching movies? Look no further. This article will show you how to gain full...
The Cybermagic of Whitelists
Before we start getting deep into the meat of this article it's important to explain some standard terminology to make sure the rest of this article makes sense.
An IP address is a number which identifies your location on the Internet.
...
Why do you want a website?
What on earth do you want a web site for? Before you leap in at the deep end give this some consideration. Look carefully at the product you have. Is it likely to sell over the internet? We all know that CD's, books and software are prolific on...
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How to Stop Spyware from Infecting your System
Spyware is becoming more and more of a problem. When I visit a cusomters site and inspect the computers I always find some kind of spyware on the system. I know that many people have been unaware of spyware, but hopefully now that the word is spreading that people will be more aware of the problem and setup a good defense. I get a get calls or questions to the effect of "Why is my computer running so slow? I just bought the computer recently". Most of the time this is because of spyware. Spyware programs will load on boot up and take up your computer memory that will reduce your performance. I will go over my typical setup to prevent and battle spyware. This system works if all of the current spyware has been removed properly. I will leave that to another article.
Spyware is loaded on a computer over the Internet without the user knowing. It is loaded in the background through holes in a user's computer setup. Internet Explorer has been very vulnerable to spyware and is a major reason why so many people are getting infected. Spyware ranges from more benign programs to more extreme programs that will hijack your browser's startup page or cause pop ups to occur relentlessly. The following is the defense system that I use, and I strongly suggest that you use.
1. Download and install all of the latest updates to your software. Once a week you should be checking for software updates to install. This will help protect you against the latest threats.
2. Use a firewall. Many people have a direct connection the Internet and do not setup and run a personal firewall. This can potentially be very dangerous. Firewalls should be running for protection against many potential problems including hackers, spyware, and data protection. Windows XP has a built in firewall. Make sure you have updated your system to Service Pack 2 (SP2) if you have Windows XP. Microsoft has added many security features and fixed bugs in this update and should be updated as soon as possible.
Sygate Personal Firewall is a free personal edition firewall that works pretty well. You can download it at http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm
3. Install and run Spybot Search & Destroy. Spybot is a great spyware detection and removal tool. This is a free tool that should be run often to make sure spyware has not been loaded onto your system. Every time that Spybot is used make sure that all of the latest updates are downloaded first. Updating to the latest Spybot files will allow detection and removal of the latest spyware programs. You can download Spybot at http://www.safer-networking.org.
4. Install and run Adaware. Adaware is another
free spyware/adware detection and removal tool. I've found that using just one spyware detection tool is not enough. Using these two tools will detect and remove a majority of the spyware programs on your machine. This tool should be run in conjunction with Spybot. Again, make sure the latest updates are downloaded and installed each time Adaware is used. Download it at http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/.
5. Use an Anti-virus program. Viruses can cause a lot of headaches for people. Since Viruses have been well publicized, I have noticed many people have an anti-virus program installed. However, people never update to the latest definition file. This is a must because the latest definition file will provide defenses against the latest viruses. If you do not update this file, you are only protecting yourself against the viruses that are known to the date of the definition file. Either setup your anti-virus program to automatically update the definition file every week, or make sure that you manually update the file every week.
6. Use Mozilla Firefox 1.0 browser. Change your browser to the recently released free Firefox browser. Internet Explorer has many holes that spyware programs target and exploit. Microsoft has tried to keep up and release updates to fix the problems, but it seems like after every fix a new vulnerability is discovered. To protect your system, just download Firefox and start to use it as your default browser. Firefox is setup very similar to Internet Explorer; so learning how to use the new browser will not be a problem. You can configure the browser to block pop-ups. This is a nice feature to battle those annoying pop-up windows. It also has a great tab feature. This allows you to open multiple pages inside one browser window. Visit http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ to download the latest version.
The above spyware prevention system should help your computer or network stay protected and running at optimal performance. If you have never run a spyware program such as Spybot or Adaware I think you will be amazed at what is detected on your system. Sometimes I find over 100 suspect spyware programs installed on computers. No wonder your system is running slow.
About the Author
Ray Bonneau owns an on site computer repair, information technology solutions company in the Dallas, TX area. They perform on site repairs for residential and small businesses; focusing mainly on providing IT support for small businesses. Visit http://www.dallascomputersolutions.com for more information or to sign up for a monthly newsletter. Ray can also be reached at ray@dallascomputersolutions.com
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Tucows Downloads - Download Freeware and Shareware Software |
Download freeware, shareware, and demos. Maintains over 45000 software titles that are tested, rated, reviewed and ready to download. |
www.tucows.com |
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Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com |
Download shareware, freeware and Demo software for PC, Mac, Linux, and Handhelds categorized into categories, plus software reviews. |
www.download.com |
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Computer software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a ... Application software is often purchased separately from computer hardware. ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Shareware.com - Search for shareware programs and free software ... |
Search for shareware programs from more than a dozen downloadable software directories. |
www.shareware.com |
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Jumbo: Free & Shareware MP3 files, Games, Screen Savers & Computer ... |
Source of free and shareware computer programs and utilities for PC and Mac. Evaluate software and read product reviews. Download games and screen savers. |
www.jumbo.com |
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Computer Software in the Yahoo! Directory |
Browse categories featuring sites devoted to computer software, including shareware and freeware download sites, operating systems, desktop customization, ... |
dir.yahoo.com |
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IEEE Software |
IEEE Computer Society's magazine covering all aspects of software, including software engineering. |
www.computer.org |
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Free Downloads on ZDNet | Shareware, Trialware, Evaluation Software |
ZDNet's Software Directory is the Web's largest library of software downloads. Covering software for Windows, Mac, and Mobile systems, ZDNet's Software ... |
downloads.zdnet.com |
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FSF - The Free Software Foundation |
Free software is a matter of liberty not price. Think of "free" as in "free speech". |
www.fsf.org |
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Apple - Software |
Software products for your digital life. ... The perfect addition for professional review. QuickTime Broadcaster. Encoding software for live events. ... |
www.apple.com |
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Open Directory - Computers: Software |
In Partnership with AOL Search. about dmoz | report abuse/spam | help. the entire directory, only in Computers/Software. Top: Computers: Software (38471) ... |
dmoz.org |
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freshmeat.net: Welcome to freshmeat.net |
About: The Web browser is probably the most frequently used software today, ... Web professionals can use the software for functional testing and regression ... |
freshmeat.net |
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Software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) |
Listing of the GNU software packages. |
www.gnu.org |
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Sun Software |
Get enterprise-class software--Solaris 10 OS, the Java Enterprise System, ... Sun Java StorageTek Software reduces cost and complexity with a single, ... |
www.sun.com |
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Internet Real Estate.com -- owns and operates a portfolio of the ... |
SOFTWARE.COM · SWEEPSTAKES.COM · PHONE.COM PODCAST.COM ... Software.com | Sweepstakes.com | Phone.com | Podcast.com | Shop.com | Safety.com ... |
www.internetrealestate.com |
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Joel on Software |
A weblog by Joel Spolsky, a programmer working in New York City, about software and software companies. |
www.joelonsoftware.com |
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Amazon.com Software: Computer & video games, business, accounting ... |
Online shopping for computer & video games, business & office productivity software, software from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe & more; accounting, antivirus, ... |
www.amazon.com |
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IBM Software - Home Page |
IBM home page for all of its software products, including Lotus and Tivoli, with keyword search, category browse and AZ product names. |
www.ibm.com |
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Opera web browser: Homepage |
Copyright © 2006 Opera Software ASA. All rights reserved. Skip navigation. Opera Software ... Copyright Opera Software ASA . All rights reserved. ... |
www.opera.com |
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Google Directory - Computers > Software |
Search only in Software Search the Web ... Software Categorized by Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ... |
www.google.com |
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