How to make your computer life more smooth and secure for free.

Newsletter Archive from 8/17/06

1. Install anti-virus software if you have Windows, or get a Mac (they don't get viruses). AVG Anti-Virus is free. Make sure you keep your "virus definition files" updated, and perform a full scan once a week. Set your AV software to automatically download updates and automatically scan.

2. Windows XP and Mac OS X come with a firewall, but is it enabled? You can also get the free Zone Alarm for Windows, which works better than the one that comes with Windows.

3. Switch to the free Firefox browser to prevent popups and spyware.

4. Never open email attachments from strangers.

5. If you share your computer with co-workers, create separate password-protected accounts for each person.

6. Never turn your computer off while you know that a file is being saved, and try to only turn it off after performing a proper shutdown, in order to avoid corrupting the hard drive.

7. If your hard drive starts clicking, buzzing, or whining all of a sudden, back up your important data files to a separate drive (or CD) at once! Hard drives die between 1 month and 10 years after you get them.

8. If you have a wireless network, figure out how to enable its security features.

9. If you get an email purporting to be from your bank, or Paypal, or eBay asking you to click a link and then login, be sure that it's legitimate before you log in. Check the browser's URL bar to see that it actually says http://www.yourbank.com/login and not some wierd thing like http://01.23.55.683/eplipl/banking/login

10. And most importantly, he may email you and say he's the dictator's uncle and he hid away all his diamonds just for you, but don't you believe it!

Automated Backups of Your Data

Get an external USB (cheaper) or FireWire (faster) hard drive and back up your important data files (or even your whole internal hard drive) once a week or more. OK, so this step isn't free (about $100 to $300), but it may be too important to skip. If you have WinXP, you can also try Carbonite, which works over the internet and costs less than $50 a year.

Helpful Hints

URL Shortcuts
Want to go to Google? If you're using Firefox, don't bother typing http://www.google.com or even www.google.com into the browser address box. Just type google and press Enter, and you'll get there. This trick works for most websites. Another reason to switch to the Firefox browser.

Reduce Spam by 95%
If you're hosted with me and want to get rid of 90% of your spam, I can add "Postini spam filtering" to your email account for $25 plus $25 a year per email account. This 3rd party service is extremely effective, and only requires about a week's worth of "training". I used to get 50 to 100 spams a day. Now I get a handful. If you're not hosted with me, ask your hosting service if they offer Postini.

Thanks!

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