Choosing Anti-Virus Software
There are a number of companies that provide software solutions to virus, Trojan, and internet worm attacks. It can be really confusing when you compare three different software packages from five different companies trying to find the one that is right for you. With that in mind, there are several very important things that you need to consider when choosing antivirus software: 1) How often/fast are the virus definitions updated. You want the answer to be “As soon as a new threat is found”. 2) Are the virus definitions updated automatically by the software? You want the answer to be “YES”. 3) Can you configure the software to check for updates every time you go online? You want the answer to be “YES”. 4) Is the software “smart” so that it can find viruses it doesn’t even know about yet? You want the answer to be “YES”. 5) Can it scan incoming and outgoing email automatically? You want the answer to be “YES”. 6) Can you configure it once to perform automatic scans of your entire computer on a regular schedule? You want the answer to be “YES”. 7) Does it provide a way to ‘clean out’ any viruses etc. that are found? You want the answer to be “YES”. Are upgrades to the software package performed automatically, regularly, and at no cost? You want the answer to be “YES”. There are a few major players in the field that you should know about in order to make an informed decision about which antivirus software solution to buy and use. There are Norton Antivirus, Trend Micro’s PC-cillin, and McAfee Antivirus. Sophos and Grisoft?s AVG are also very god choices. All of the top antivirus solutions will provide each of the eight points above (and more). There are quite a few smaller players on the market as well. In many cases they are quite good. However, most of the smaller players in this market don’t have the resources (yet) to keep up with constantly changing virus threats. For now I would recommend staying away from them. Not because they are poor products, but simply because they aren’t able to consistently provide each of the eight requirements above. The first few days after a new virus appears are often when it can do the most damage. The sooner you get an update the better. The big 3 will provide automatic updates to new threats usually within days of a new virus being found. Sophos and AVG are similar. Smaller players may take several days to provide updates, which are often not automatic. This should be enough basic information to help you on your way to choosing a good antivirus software. If you?d like to learn more first, there is plenty to read at http://www.antivirus-report.com/antivirus-software.html Learn about <a href="http://www.antivirus-report.com/antivirus-software.html">antivirus software</a> & how to protect your pc against trojan horses, spyware, computer viruses, etc. in the future. <a href="http://www.antivirus-report.com/nortons-anti-virus.html">Nortons anti virus</a>
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How The New Computer User Can Reduce Spam
Every computer user gets spam in their email almost daily. There is just no way to avoid junk email unless you want to delete it without reading it. Yes, you can compare it to those telemarketers who call you at dinnertime (or any other time). There is no way to avoid having an email address on the computer because if you have an account, you must have an email address to do business on the Internet. Someone will find a way to contact you either by phone, snail mail or email to try to “sell” you an idea, plan, or a product. There is just no escaping junk email if you have an account on the Internet, and this unwanted email can become annoying at times. Spam filters are used by most of the Internet Service Providers such as American Online. The computer user fills out a list of overused spam words in the email settings filter and saves it. After the settings go into effect, any any future email containing the spam word that you inserted into the filter will not make it into your email account. You may get spam in your spam folder, but some of it may be email you may want to read. If you want the email in your regular email , you can whitelist the email address in your address book so that the email is sent directly to your email account. Be cautious in revealing your personal email address, for privacy or for safety reasons as well as avoiding spam. Do not let fear of spammers limit your time on the Internet forums or groups, as you can use a free email address or a disposable email account such as those on Hotmail, Mail.com, and Yahoo. Addresses from these accounts are often used by people to guard their privacy on forums and groups on the Web. When you feel that you know someone trustworthy, you can give them your personal email address. But have at least one or two different free disposable email addresses to cut the spamming in the personal email account. Avoid responding to unsolicited spam as it will confirm your address to the spammer which could, in turn, send you even more spam than you will ever want to see. Also if you answer or complain about the offensive emails it may only come back to your email address as undeliverable or may be sent to some other annoyed computer user’s address. You can call or email your Internet Service Provider and ask what their procedure is in blocking spam. Several years ago, I remember sending manually a few hundred junk emails back to the Report Abuse team at my free email account. This worked very well as it has not happened again. Find out from your Internet Service Provider how they can help you end the onslaught of spam. Usually the spammer’s account will be terminated or shut down if there are enough complaints from consumers. Check with Spam Cop and Network Abuse Clearninghouse’s resources and information for people who receive spam. These informative resources can contact the Internet Service Providers so that the spammer is made aware of complaints, although at times they may not always be accurate. Remember that the spam will continue if people remain complacent or just too lazy to report it. Reducing the level of spam in your mailbox may take a little time and effort on your part. What you can also do is start blocking certain email addresses that come from repeated spammers. The junk emails are then blocked before they even reach your mailbox address. Again, set up the spam filter to block emails containing certain spam words so that you will not receive them. These two techniques alone will reduce the onslaught of unwanted junk emails in your personal email account. The computer user must be careful of not clicking on email attachments from unknown senders as they can contain various types of viruses and infectious worms that can harm your computer or files. If you did not request a email to be sent to you, do not open an attachment as it could be a worm. You do not want to pay for expensive computer repairs. These problems, in turn, can be avoided if you have a strong firewall and good antivirus software in place on your computer. Do not be indifferent and believe that it will not happen to you. Be cautious, and try to research on protecting your computer. your online and offline privacy, and your Internet account. John Chan is a writer and researcher who has a an interest in the Internet. His website is <a href="http://www.theantispamguide.com" title="http://www.theantispamguide.com" target="_blank">http://www.theantispamguide.com</a> and <a href="http://www.ezantispam.com" title="http://www.ezantispam.com" target="_blank">http://www.ezantispam.com</a>
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