Spy ware, Pop Up Blocker and basic safe computer information
Spy ware
As Mel mentioned on air today (7/20), there are tools online to monitor and delete spy ware that gets installed on your computer without your knowing it.
Spy ware is a little program that gets installed by different websites to 'monitor' your web habits. That information is then sent to advertisers and other websites. That's when you see spam showing up in your email with offers on items you've been looking at online, among other reasons.
Spy ware can be found in games you download, music sharing systems like Kazaa, and even store bought programs. (Parents, you might want to download this especially if your kids have music sharing programs on their computer systems.)
To check your system for spy ware, download Lavasoft's Ad-Ware program. This is a free program. (We are not paid for this mention - just a program that Mel uses.)
Pop Up Blockers
Just as annoying as spam are those ridiculous pop up ads. These show up when you log onto a website. Once there, little windows 'pop up' in your browser, announcing another wonderful deal or offer. Other pop ups happen when you log onto a website for your credit cards or bank which allow you to log on.
One program (FREE) that allows you to get
rid of (block) the pop up windows is called
EMS Free
Surfer. (Again we aren't paid for this mention.) This program
will block all of your pop up windows. However, if you need to allow pop
ups, you can configure the program to allow specific ones.
Basic Safe Computer Information
Virus Protection
Are you online? Obviously you are if you are looking at this web page. It is extremely important these days to have some kind of virus protection. Virus come, usually, via email as attachments. Once you click on the attachment, the virus is loaded into your system. The most common type of virus is a 're-mailer'. What happens is that the virus will continually send out messages from your address book. Sometimes that message is spam email, sometimes its the virus itself remailing itself.
Virus software like Norton Anti-Virus, will keep a complete list of viruses. It will scan email that arrives and let you know if there is a virus attached. There are many different virus software out there so do your research at Cnet.com
Make sure you run your virus protection once a week - this will scan your system for viruses as well as update the virus protection list.
Firewall Protection
A firewall is a computer term meaning a
'wall' that keeps outsiders from getting into your computer to look at your
personal information, load viruses, or even use it to run programs.
Even if you are on a dial up network, as most of us in Las Cruces are, you need
a firewall like Zone
Alarm.
Basic Smart Surfing Tips
1. Never open an attachment in an
email, even if you know the sender. Sometimes a person doesn't know that they
have a virus on their computer. Remind all of your computer users,
especially children, of the dangers of downloading these things.
2. Open a second email account at places like hotmail.com or
yahoo.com if you like to enter online contests. When you enter contests,
your email address is usually sent on to other 'warehouses' for spam.
Doing this will reduce the amount of spam that shows up in your box.
Emailing Tips
1. We all get those emails about
different folks or stories that seem too good to be true. They are
referred to as email hoaxes. Before forwarding things like these on, visit
a hoax website like Snopes.com to check and
see if the story is true or not. Sometimes these emails are as bad as spam
because they are forwarded in perpetuity.
2. Keep in mind that some folks don't have fast connections. Keep
your attachments to a manageable size. Nothing over 500k is a good rule of
thumb. If you have to send pictures, try to post them on a website and
then send the link. Places like Yahoo! offer free photo albums.
If you can, resize the pictures are well. Files that end in .bmp are
usually large files. Try to send only .jpg or .gif files.