Tips for safe computing! Stay on top of Spyware, Viruses and other threats.

We are happy to consult with you on your security questions.

Follow these steps to make your PC safer against viruses, spyware and other unwanted 'visitors':

• Download and install the FireFox web browser and the Thundrbird email program. You get these at www.mozilla.org. These are free!
• Download and install Spybot Search and Destroy, keep it updated via its build in update function, scan and remove all spyware it finds. It is free!
• Download and install Ad-Aware Personal, keep it updated via its build in update function, scan and remove all spyware it finds. It is free!
• Make sure you have a good virus checker installed, that it is up to date all the time, scans all your incoming e-mails and scans you entire computer once a week. We recommend Norton Anti Virus, available from us.
• If you do not run Windows XP's firewall then download and install ZoneAlarm their personal edition is free. ZoneAlarm is a firewall software that blocks unauthorised access to your PC and from your PC to the Internet.
• Back up your most important data frequently! Always ask yourself: what would happen if my computer lost all its data today? Could I handle this? Keep a backup perhaps at a different location!

Here a few more tips relating to some of the most common issues:

Spyware:

Lately a lot of our computer repair tasks have been centred on the removal of spyware that has made computers slow or impossible to use. Under this category fall all sorts of applications that are installed on your computer without your consent or knowledge simply by visisting malicious websites with the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) application.

IE is notorious for its many inherent faults and exploitable loopholes that allow these websites to install their spyware applications onto your computer. The applications are often desigend to spy on your browsing habits and then send the resulting statistics to the marketing companies together with your email address and other data gathered from your computer. The worst kind of spyware will log all keystrokes from your keyboard and especially pay attention when you fill in passwords and user names on interent sites. These keylogger applications can then send this information to their makers and allow them to enter you Internet banking website etc.

What to do: Stop using IE and switch to the safe alternative FireFox. FireFox seems to be hardened against Spyware. I have found no Spyware infections on any computer that exclusivley used FireFox! Also FireFox is a much better web browser than IE!

Stop using MS Outlook Express or MS Outlook for your e-mail. Both applications will use the unsafe web browser components from IE to display HTML (website) e-mails and thus allow again embedded spyware to infect your PC. Instead download the Thunderbird e-mail client. Thunderbird is a great e-mail client.

You will find download links to both programs in the download section above. Both programs are free!

Remove existing Spyware:

The removal of existing Spyware can be tricky. Some are made very clever and prevent their removal by installing two applications. Once you remove the first, the second will install the first again and vice versa.

The best tools for spyware removal are Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware SE. You will find links to both in the download section above. They are both free for personal use.

In order to keep them up-to-date you should use their build in update functions after downloading and before each use. Both applications will scan your PC for known spyware and remove what they can. You should use them both as they complement each other nicely.

Viruses:

Viruses have long been the biggest dread of e-mail communications. They normally arrive embedded as attachments in e-mail messages. Most obfuscate their origin by using somebody elses e-mail address as the sender, not the address of the infected computer. In order to protect yourself agains viruses you should have a high quality virus checker installed that scans all your incoming e-mails before they arrive in you e-mail inbox. In our opinion Norton Anti Virus is the best of the bunch. You must keep it up to date with the live update feature and keep your annual subscription going. You can purchase Norton Anti Virus from us.

Luckily most reputable Internet Service Providers also scan messages on their servers before they are delivered. This has led to a steady decline of live viruses that have arrived at our computers.


Scams and Tricks:

Be very alert when you receive e-mails that pretend to come from your bank and ask you to 'verify' your account details with them. Your bank will never ask you to do this. These messages are from organised criminals who in most cases have set up their own websites which look identical to your banks website. If you do as you are told and click on the link provided in these messages you will be lead to their fake website. Once you enter you banking user name and password there the criminals will quickly use this information to access your real banking website and transfer funds to accounts over which they have control.