PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER
Most of us surf the web with little or no protection for our computers.
Why?
Because we have no idea about the threats out there. I'd bet my last penny that every single person who follows the advice on this page, finds at least 10 examples of spyware, hijack ware, virus, or some other damaging program, put on your computer, without you even knowing.
So you already have anti virus, firewall? well that's not enough. I had both of these, and a few more programs on top, and my computer was still broken by malicious programs left on an innocent looking page.
And you can prevent this from happening to you, by downloading, and installing a few simple programs. An hour of your time at most.
If your computer is acting different to usual, sluggish, opening on pages you have not asked for, pop up windows, blank entries in your history, then you have problems, you need to read on.
If your PC seems to be running ok, read on and follow the steps anyway, is it worth loosing your computer?
So lets start with what programs you MUST have on your computer.
all of these are free. they must be downloaded, installed, set up properly, and then set up to receive regular updates, so that you are always protected from new threats.
click the link below to go to the page
ANTI VIRUS
FIREWALL
SPYWARE BLOCKER
SPYWARE SEARCH
once you've set up the programs listed above, you now have some decent protection on your computer, but there are still a few things that you need to do and know.
EXTRA HELP
There's another program that will find anything intrusive hiding in your PC, it's easy to install and run, but you will need to take the results to experts to tell you what needs doing.
HIJACK PROGRAM
So download and install this anyway, and if your computer starts to act oddly, run the program and save the results in a log file, then take them to one of the following sites and ask them to read and advise. Remember, the people at these sites do this for free, in their spare time, out of the kindness of their hearts, so be polite and patient.
COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
WILDERS SECURITY FORUMS
SWI FORUM
Another helpful program to see if anything has been installed on your PC without your knowledge is a reg cleaner, but before you do anything with this, read all the info and help. if you try and use it without knowing what you are doing you could quite easily break your PC
REG CLEANER
DOWNLOAD A SPARE BROWSER
I was recently given a piece of advice that we all should follow. Do you drive out in your car on a long journey, with no spare tyre? Well we do the equivalent everytime we go online!! How many of you only have one browser? internet explorer?
Well that's no good! my internet explorer browser was hijacked, my computer rendered useless, and had I known then to have a spare browser, I'd have had no problems getting back online to get the help to fix the damage that had been done.
So please, even if you do not use it, download and install a spare browser window.
I'll give you another good reason to download one. Anyone else not able to read their hotmail at the moment? I can't, not been able to for 2 weeks... Well after opening hotmail in my new Netscape browser, I can read, reply, use hotmail as normal...
Here are the two browsers I've just downloaded and installed. both work just the same as IE, you can even bring all your personal settings from IE into your new browser. And even if you never use the spare browser, it's there if you ever do need it, (or if you want to read your hotmail this centaury lol)
Oh, and they are free, don't cost a penny, but having one installed could save you £1000, or whatever your computer costs?
NETSCAPE
FIREFOX
HELP AND INFORMATION SITES
there are lots of sources of information and help for keeping your computer running properly and protected. here are a few that you should save to your favourites, then read when you have time, or visit if you have problems.
COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
WILDERS SECURITY FORUMS
SWI FORUM
MAJOR GEEKS
BLEEPING COMPUTER
HELP TO GO
CYBERWALKER
CNET HELP
remember, the people who run these sites, help you for free, so be patient and polite.
PLEASE TAKE AN HOUR TO DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL EACH OF THE 4 PROGRAMS ABOVE, IT COULD SAVE YOUR PC.
I'm not trying to scare you all, and I'm not flapping over nothing. I've just lost a computer because of ignorance to these things. please, don't be ignorant, protect yourself!