Before opening any files you download ALWAYS scan them for viruses with virus-scanning programs. To trust just one virus-detecting program is foolhardy. New viruses are on the move everyday and not one program can detect it all. You'll want to stock up and use a number of programs to ensure the best protection. Be sure that the anti-virus programs you install and run are compatible. Some of these programs can conflict. Always keep anti-virus programs up to date, especially before opening your email.
Avast! Antivirus Software BitDefender Free Edition Download the anti-virus software. This is NOT the online scanner.
BitDefender Free Online Virus Scan BitDefender is a fully functional anti-virus product with all the required elements for remote anti-virus cleaning. It scans system's memory, all files, folders and drives' boot sector with the option to automatically clean the infected files.
Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus System The unique combination of detection methods ensures that your computer receives the maximum protection possible on multiple levels. Resident shield, email scanner plugins, personal email scanner, on-demand and other tests.
Grisoft AVG Free Edition Free anti-virus protection.
Kaspersky Labs - Free Online Virus Scanner McAfee AVERT Stinger Stinger is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It's not a substitute for full anti-virus protection.
McAfee FreeScan FreeScan searches for thousands of viruses, including the latest known "in the wild" viruses, and displays a detailed list of any infected files. Should viruses be found, FreeScan even provides links to give you more information on what you can do to clean your system.
McAfee Security Virus Glossary Technical terms used in virus alerts and descriptions can be confusing. Use this glossary whenever you come across a term you don't understand.
Norton's Anti-Virus There's more negative feedback on Norton's Anti-Virus than for any other anti-virus program. Some complaints are it crashes, takes up too many resources and it's not compatible with other programs. If you have the paid version by all means use it. If not, think twice! Norton's Anti-Virus doesn't clean trojans.
Panda ActiveScan Free Online Scan Just connect to the internet and click "Online Virus Check" to clean your computer. It scans, disinfects and eliminates new or unknown viruses from all parts of your system, hard disks, compressed files and all your e-mail. Updated at least once a day.
Panda Software Virus Alerts Bulletin Our free weekly Virus Alerts E-bulletin informs you about the latest malicious code and viruses quickly and simply via email. If a dangerous virus appears we will warn you immediately so that you can take the necessary security measures.
PC Pitstop Virus Scan Our scanner identifies an extensive list of viruses and automatically checks for updates to the virus list each time you run it. Powered by Panda Software.
RAV AntiVirus Online Virus Scan You can scan and clean your PC of viruses and other malwares here free of charge. Virus infection is a reality of modern-day computing and with the advent of the internet this reality has become even more real.
Shaw Get the latest information on computer viruses on Shaw's front page. For more detailed information visit the Virus Info section.
Symantec Security Check Test your computer's exposure to a wide range of online security threats with these free and efficient tests: Security Scan and Virus Detection. Learn how to make your computer more secure by determining your internet security needs.
Symantec Security Response: Removal Tools Page Symantec has developed tools to automatically conduct what would often amount to extensive and tedious manual removal tasks. If your system has become infected, these tools should aid you in repairing the damage.
Trend Micro HouseCall Online Virus Scan To start the online scan select your location > Check 'My Computer' > Check 'Auto Clean' > When it opens click 'Scan'. First scan takes about 1 hour, the first 15 minutes the site is looking through your computer to see what files it needs
to update
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¤ Drive Cleaners
You need to clean your temp files and cookies daily or at least every few days. This keeps your computer privacy and frees up hard drive space. Clean as suggested below if you are running low on space:
Method 1: On your desktop right-click the "Blue E icon" for Internet Explorer > Click Properties > Click on Delete Files button > Click on Delete Cookies > Reboot your machine.
Method 2: In Internet Explorer go to "Tools" > "Internet Options" > Under Temporary Internet Files click "Delete Cookies" and "Delete Files" > Click OK > Reboot your machine.
Method 3: Download and run a disk cleaner below as needed.
CleanUp!
CleanUp! is a powerful and easy-to-use freeware application that removes temporary files created while surfing the web, empties the Recycle Bin, deletes files from your temporary folders and more.
Crap Cleaner (CCleaner)
R-Wipe & Clean Unrecoverably cleans important records of your on and offline activities, such as temporary internet files, history, cookies, autocomplete forms and passwords, recently opened documents list, temporary files and more. Free fully functional 15-day trial version.
Webroot Window Washer
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¤ File Extensions FILExt FILExt is a detailed database of file extensions and programs that use them.
Webopedia: Data Formats And Their File Extensions
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¤ Firewalls & Routers
You are vulnerable to identity theft! Online hackers know more than 2,500 ways to break into unprotected PC systems. In seconds, they steal private files, credit card statements, tax records, passwords and social security numbers. A personal firewall places a protective barrier between internet criminals and the personal information on your PC. Firewalls can either be hardware or software.
IP Addresses: Every machine on the internet has a unique identifying number, like a phone number or fingerprint for your PC, called an IP address. Your IP address is either static or random (dynamic). Never give out your IP address to anyone. To do so gives them a backdoor (your direct PC address) to hack you and then they can do things to your computer. You definitely don't want people going into your computer. Protect it as you would your mailing address. Last thing you want to do is go to the door one day and find a mail bomb. Your IP address can be hidden if you are connecting to the internet through a firewall.
Firewalls: Firewalls are only effective if configured properly. Be sure to read the help files to get the best protection from your firewall. Most of the common free firewalls have been compromised but something is better than nothing. Known as software firewalls.
Routers: Because of what routers do, one of the byproducts is a type of firewall. A router enables you to make multiple connections to the internet, 1 cable and 1 DSL connection, so technically they are a form of firewall. However they are not a firewall in the true sense of the word. A 'true' firewall does Statefull Packet Inspection, which means it looks at all the packets coming in and makes decisions on whether to allow the packets to go through or to drop them. A router is a really good solution for networking (2 or more computers) but you don't need one if you have only one computer. Can a router replace a firewall? It depends on who you ask. Some people use a firewall, another a router and some use both. A router will block ports but I think you need a second software firewall as well. You cannot download a router, routers are hardware (known as hardware firewalls).
BlackICE Because your home PC is exposed to hacker threats every time you connect to the internet, you are at risk. BlackICE teams a personal firewall with an advanced intrusion detection system to constantly watch your internet connections for suspicious behavior.
McAfee Personal Firewall Plus Ideal for dial-up or broadband (DSL, cable) internet connections, Personal Firewall Plus not only blocks online thieves but lets you trace the source of hacker attacks, avoid future threats and alert the proper authorities (including ISPs or law enforcement).
NETGEAR NETGEAR makes routers that have 'true' firewall capabilities in them as well.
Software Reviews: Firewalls Different firewalls and descriptions of them.
Sygate Sygate is a really good and tight personal firewall solution.
Zone Labs ZoneAlarm ZoneAlarm is a PC firewall that keeps your personal data and privacy safe from internet hackers and data thieves. Protection against worms, trojans, spyware and malicious email attachments. Easy to configure. Get the FREE program, not the paid version.
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¤ Online Safety
Call Child Find's national toll free number if you see a missing child
FBI Publications: A Parent's Guide To Internet Safety English & Spanish
National Center For Missing And Exploited Children Operation Blue Ridge Thunder Diligently working to apprehend perpetrators, protect potential victims, and educate parents, teachers and children about internet safety.
SafeKids.com Your family's guide to making the internet and technology fun, safe and productive. Learn about parenting and how to keep kids safe on the net. Everybody should pay this site a visit!
Say No To Pictures Of Children On Web Pages
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¤ Pop Up Blockers
Ad blockers waste a lot of resources since they are always in the background doing things. They can make your computer run slower than it would without them.
AdsGone Popup Killer IntelliStopper Free Popup Stopper Determines which windows are unwanted pop ups while allowing desirable pop up windows to load and function properly. It can also block annoying desktop pop up spam and pop ups generated from adware and spyware running on your PC.
Power IE Power IE is an Internet Explorer add-on toolbar that improves browser performance and protects your online privacy by suppressing the download of banner ads and popup ad windows. Fully integrated into IE.
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¤ Registry Cleaners Microsoft RegClean 4.1a A free registry tool for Win95, Win98 and ME. Cleans and repairs Windows registry errors. It is no longer supported by Microsoft nor it is available for download from Microsoft's web site. RegClean 4.1 will also run on all Windows XP 2000 operating systems.
RegClean 4.1a
RegClean is a fairly small application that will save alot of start-up time. It clears the Windows 95 registry safely and effectively. With the registry cleaned out you'll have a shorter wait whenever you boot the system.
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¤ Spam Prevention
Stop your inboxes from getting cluttered every day with hundreds of unwanted bulk emails, and eliminate any email-borne virus threats, without missing one single important email. Follow these tips for limiting spam and spam viruses: 1) Configure anti-virus programs to check incoming email. 2) Do not leave email programs on and running overnight. 3) Never open any attachments from strangers. Confirm unexpected attachments from people you know. 4) Do not respond to junk messages and never click on the links. Don't attempt the "Remove Me" instructions in spam. Sending spammers email requesting that they cease spamming you will just encourage them to send you even more spam because you have confirmed it's an active email account. 5) Use spam blockers to deliver only the email you want.
Avoid mailto This is a good link on the subject.
Deadletter Deadletter works as a plug-in to your Eudora email program to kill spam and other unwanted junk mail.
Form To Create A mailto Link Hidden From Spammers Fight Spam On The Internet! Referenced as one of the best anti-spam sites on the net. Help fight spam to keep the internet useful for everyone. Take advantage of the information we've gathered to make your own experience on the internet better.
How Can I Prevent SPAM? A list of words used in spam which can be applied to rules in various email programs and blocking tools to help prevent spam from being received.
HTML Tips: Protect Your Email Address From Spam Robots Display your email address within your web pages and protect it from being harvested by spam robots at the same time. Add this simple HTML code to your mailto.
MailTo Protector 3.0 McAfee SpamKiller With fraudulent, inappropriate and offensive emails being delivered in vast quantities everyday, spam protection is essential to your PC's security strategy. SpamKiller quickly and easily helps you stop spam with advanced rule-based and list based filtering.
Shaw Email Filter Available to all Shaw internet customers, the Shaw Email Filter identifies junk email messages and lets you choose how to handle them. You can tag junk email, hold them temporarily in Webmail, delete them automatically or you can turn the Email Filter off entirely.
Site Gadgets: Spam Fighter Join the war against unsolicited commercial email. Our original script clogs up email address gathering spam-bots with hundreds of fake addresses. May not stop them, but it will slow them down. Visit Site Gadgets to sign up free.
Spambot Beware - Avoidance - HTML Tricks That Pesky And Obnoxious Unsolicited Email What You Can Do In War On Spam
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¤ Spyware Utilities
At this very moment there is a very strong chance that your computer is infected with spyware as spyware and adware can easily bypass anti-virus protection. A few ways you can get infected are: downloading music, sharing photos, installing free programs, email attachments sent to you, exchanging files in chat rooms, clicking on pop-up ads and by browsing web sites, in particular, adult-related sites.
Spyware utilities can detect and remove serious spy activity like keyloggers, activity monitoring software, web site loggers, common adware, web parasites, tracking cookies and many other annoying devices used to invade your privacy.
Not only do these devices track and spy on you, they can also cause serious damage and performance problems with your computer. If you have new toolbars in your browser that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, if your browser start page has changed without your knowledge, or if your favorites have new entries that you don't want, you probably have spyware.
Despite all of this you have to be careful with spyware removal programs. Some take out windows system services and other benevolent files.
Ad Aware Ad-aware is a free multi spyware removal utility that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware and scumware components and lets you remove them safely. Updated frequently.
Hijackthis! Do NOT make changes using Hijackthis! unless you know what you're doing.
Spybot - Search & Destroy Spybot will find things you WANT to keep so be careful. Not recommended for beginners.
Spybot - Search & Destroy Dictionary A description of terms related to spyware.
SpywareBlaster 3.2 Webroot Spy Sweeper Effectively and safely detects and removes spyware from your PC to protect you from identity theft, browser hijackers, hackers, keyloggers and trojans. Under "Options" enable "Adware Cookie Protection" if you want to be tracked as little as possible.
XoftSpy
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¤ Trojan Cleaners
Trojan horses are a huge security threat. A trojan is a program that enters your computer undetected, giving the attacker who planted the trojan unrestricted access to the confidential data stored on your computer. Anti-virus programs often do not catch trojans because they are focused on viruses.
Use anti-trojan software (trojan scanners, cleaners and removers) to catch such threats.
MooSoft The Cleaner The Cleaner is designed to keep your computer and data safe from trojans, worms, keyloggers, spyware and all malware.
Trojan Remover TrojanScan.com Free Online Trojan Scanner Click the "Scan My Computer For Trojans!" button > Click "Yes" to download and install TrojanScan > Run this test on your machine.
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¤ Virus Alerts
Delete any message, even if it comes from a friend or known business associate, if it has an attachment that ends with ".vbs". Variations of the virus have subjects that include the words "joke", "love", and "very funny".
Der Keiler Kazaa is a peer-to-peer file sharing program that has an embedded trojan that's there on purpose! I got ADW_TENGET_A virus and a whole bunch of other uglies from Kazaa which could only be removed through the registry with great difficulty. If you use Kazaa read this.
Security Alert: Fake UNI.CC Emails There is a virus spreading by email which asks to open password protected files. UNI.CC never sends attachments to member accounts. Delete it to prevent a virus infection.
WARNING - OneStopSoft Malicious Install Do not download software from www.onestopsoft.com. After installing Video Converter (oss.exe) from them your computer can be rendered useless as it rewrites computer registry files and one of the executables is adware.
WARNING: www.Stop-Sign.com eAcceleration Corp FORCES a download of viruses, spyware, adware and "resource hogs". Poses as a site that distributes anti-virus, spam blocker and internet accelerator programs. Also claims to have info on the Sasser.B virus to lure unsuspecting people
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¤ Windows
Find Out Your Version Of Windows:
Right-click on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop > Properties > Under the "General" tab the version of Windows will be diplayed.
For Windows XP you need over 500 MB ram.
Find Out What Your Graphics Card Is:
Click the "Start" button > Settings > go to "Control Panel". In the Control Panel click "System". Click the "Device Manager" tab > click the + besides "Display Adapters". There it should list your Graphics Card. Right-click and go into "Properties" and it will list some more information there. To update your Graphics Card drivers click the "Driver" tab > hit the "Update Driver..." button > follow the wizard. You must make sure the drivers you download are specifically for your Graphics Card. If you need more info try looking up your card in a search engine. You might need to know what your Graphics Card is to see if it's compatible with other things.
Replace Framedyn.dll File "Application Has Failed to Start Because Framedyn.dll Was Not Found" error message when you open the System Properties Dialog Box.
Windows Update Protect your PC. Get the latest critical and security updates, device drivers and other features for your Windows computer's operating system, software and hardware. Click "Scan for updates" for a selection of updates tailored just for you. Go here at least once a week.
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Many thanks to all the experienced internet users that advised me on these matters, rescused my computer and made this page possible.
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