These recommendations are for useful utilities, applications and tips, many of which I use everyday and all are products that I actually use myself.
Is your computer secure? Does it matter? Yes it does. Take the brief online tests at this website to check it out. It's free.
Personal firewall. You must use a firewall! I get pinged all the time by bad people. I've used Zonealarm for years. It's free for personal use.
Virus protection. I don't even have to mention this, do I? You've got virus protection and it updates automatically, right? AVG is free for personal use.
Here's lookin' at you. Spyware and adware are sneaky little programs buried in your pc, unbeknownst to you, which phone home with information about your surfing habits. Use this free utility to search out and eliminate spyware.
Fight spam! First of all, NEVER buy a product that is advertised via unsolicited email! Do not encourage these people! Even if you receive an email for a perfect product that you were going out to buy tomorrow morning, DO NOT buy it from spam email!
Fight spam 2! There are many stop-spam programs around now but I use MailWasher. Open MailWasher first, before you go to your mail, and if something looks like spam ... delete it! Not sure? Preview it without opening it. Easy and free (although donations are encouraged). I rely on it so much that I paid up for Mailwasher Pro.
Virus warnings. You want to send out legitimate warnings, but don't pass on junk. It's NOT better to get a thousand warning emails if they're not true. Take a few seconds and verify it yourself before you pass it on.
Hoaxbusters. Don't you hate email hoaxes? Please don't pass them on! Take a few seconds and verify if it's true.
Clean up your email. Do you get email that has been forwarded to a thousand people before it gets to you? Don't pass it on with all the ">" symbols and the headers. Copy the funny/ sad/ interesting parts into eCleaner v2.01 (freeware by Steve Chin) and get rid of all the html markup. You end up with a nice clean letter to email. Don't forward email - copy and paste into a new email.
Questions? Comments?
Let's go! Email me