The main concern when going on line ( the internet, web ) is that ones' personal privacy not be compromised by anyone remotely, wither a pre-puberty kid on the other side of the moon or some overzealous business group trying to improve their sales by learning their customers preferences.
For Surfing and E-Mail protection with all internet connections, I use <<Zone Alarm>> (Freeware), an excellent two way firewall. Even if you are using a rarely used slow telephone dial-up you will occasionally see somebody wandering by with a subseven back door or so which can remote control your actions counteracting them on the fly, reducing you to tears and mental collapse. If you don't have a good two way software firewall installed, don't ask me for sympathy, at some latter day. For Virus protection I use <<AVG 6.0 >> (Freeware) which automatically scans files for viruses and all incoming and outgoing E-Mail . A great program and it has provisions for updating for new viruses that are always popping up on the internet. Now, let's go over some programs (Freeware) I use to get rid of those annoying pop up adds and other devious junk that take control of your system. Two good ones
are <<SpyBot >> and <<AD-Ware >> . Ad-Ware is a detection and removal utility (designed for Windows 98 / 98SE / ME / NT40 / 2000 / XP Home / XP Pro) that will comprehensively scan your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known Datamining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, Keyloggers, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components.
Spy Bot Search and Destroy, it is an essential computer maintenance and security tool. Like AD-Ware, it finds and removes spyware (programs or parts of programs that collect information about your computer use and send the info back to the programmer or company via the net. Spy bot does more than AD-Ware. It also looks for errors in the registry and allows you to correct them without fear. Go to their site to read more:
Definely something to have in your arsenal. I have included a quick start tutorial on both programs, <<Spybot/Ad-aware Tutorial>> here.
I recently had a search engine take control of my Internet Explorer homepage and neither of the above two programs were able to fix it, and then I found out about <<HighjackThis >>, it has almost a dozen other checks against hijacker tricks. It is continually updated to detect and remove new hijacks.
It does not target specific programs/URLs, just the methods used by hijackers to force you onto their sites. As a result, false positives are imminent and unless you are sure what you're doing, you should always consult with knowledgable folks before deleting anything. The author, Merjin, has put together a tutorial on how to interpet the log and I have supplied it here. <<Log Tutorial >>
I run all 3 programs at least once a week; you will be amazed at the number junk they uncover.
Merjin, has also written <<StartupList >>, the same link as HighjackThis. It's an excellent tool for detailing all autoloading software on your PC. Very useful for finding trojans, virii, and spyware. Although this tool does not fix anything it gives you a much more comprehensive list of startup programs than for example MSConfig. Very useful when used in conjunction with SpyBot, Ad-Ware, HighjackThis, etc.
I also recommend checking your E-Mail first with << Mail Washer >> (Freeware) ; with Mail Washer you can bounce your junk, Spam mails back to the originating e-mail server and delete any oversize mail your novice friends send.
Another good program to have is << Disk Cleaner >> (Freeware) With Disk Cleaner you can easily clean up disk space that is now used by temporary files like those in the system temporary folder, the Internet Explorer Cache and Cookies folder, and the Recycle Bin,and besides it is smaller and faster than the one that comes with Windows.
I also occasionally run a Registry Cleaner and a good one is Jouni Vuorio's << Reg Clean >>. This Tiny Treasure is from a young programmer in Finland named Jouni Vuorio. RegCleaner is just what its name implies. It cleans out your Registry. The Registry is probably the most feared part of the Windows operating system (and it should be). It is the heart and soul, with everything on your computer at least listed somewhere in this file. It literally tells your computer what to do and what to do it with. Every software application you install has a reference of some sort in the Registry. When you simply delete a program's folder and files, chances are there are still references to it in the Registry file. This can cause all sorts of problems, from your computer looking for something that simply isn't there, to just clogging things up behind the scenes. Double click to open the program, click the word Tools at the top, and choose Registry Cleanup and Automatic Registry Cleaner. This is fantastic and risk free. It suggests. YOU decide. The program also has lets you restore, if you notice problems after using Registry Cleaner, you can easlily retore your registry to the way it was before. Lately, I have been having some problems getting to Jouni's site, but keep trying as it is current. This link << Dr Mac's Computer clinic # 30 >> is a very good tutorial on how to use RegCleaner. Definely look here first before running it. .
For Operating Systems I Run Windows 2000 Pro SP3 with 196 Mb. For additional safety go to , Control Panel, Network Connections, Properties, Networking, and make sure that ONLY " TCP/IP Internet protocol " is checked.