Liae Blog

Wouldn’t  it be a piece of cake if our OS like Windows 7 or VISTA could protect itself from security threat such as virus, spyware, adware ?  But they don’t !

Security industry  thrives. Economic Principal has to be there.  Every security software is making money. You can extend your thanks to Microsoft.

I guess, the law suite Microsoft faced made it more liberal.  But when an OS is made for YOU my friend, should it ask you to reach into your pocket just  to protect it  ?

I am cheap at my heart also can not afford every thing. If an OS came plain with just OS, I would need to find programs proect, use, enjoy and maintain my PC.

OPENSOURCE projects are alive and it is making life easier otherwise we would need to spend a lot of money to just run a program like MS WORD.

When I say FREEWARE I mean  OPENSOURCE.  To download, go to a reliable source too. Don’t download from untrusted sites. You might be installing something else  instead of the program. I will provide you the source to download other Apps where I discuss, for now, programs discussed in this post, goto download.com and get it from there. CNET owned site, reviews each software  for virus, etc so you know you are getting what you wanted.

Let’s not talk too much about companies that are already big enough everywhere, in web pages, blogs, you name it… let’s get  to the point :

FIVE WAYS TO KEEP YOUR PACE SAFE

NUMEBR 1: – Secure your PC !
When you have it new. SECURE. SECURE, that should be your #1 priority.

Here are FREE Programs you can use.

• AVIRA – Made by Germany Gurus, comes a free for personal use Anti-virus program with a few limited features but it does run.  Umbrella will protect from a lot of viruses.
• AVG Free – This one is not bad at all, if you don’t like Yahoo Toolbar, un-tick during installation. I forgot if the former also recommends something to install, just ignore it.
• AVAST Anti-virus - You must be wondering? Why are you telling me to install all these…  Well, let all these and many other security apps load while you go make your coffee. When you come back, you PC will be ready. If one program can’t catch the nasty virus you, the other might.
• SPY-BOT Search and Destroy – this was among the best of all a long time ago, to me, It still is. It’s FREE too.  It has many advanced tools which you can use, as you get more comfortable with it though. On VISTA, run this program by Right Clicking, then, Select “Run as administrator”
• Malwarebytes – Again, yet another Spyware and even Trojan Horse remover. Wow! Free For personal use. Download and Use it. If you have a program with VISTA. Run it like the way you did above. When a friend of mine couldn’t even run a thing, I ran this program, it deleted almost everything from ad- ware to virus too. Highly recommended and you got get it.

Number 2 :

Time to start using other than Internet Explorer (IE). I’ve never understood why viruses and stuffs like that come so easily from IE than others ? But, I do get the point – most viruses are targeted towards PC as it holds major market share and Virus creators want the viruses to spread like crazy.

If you have money, I would recommend a product from Apple for your complete peace of mind. You can actually, get out of this blog and head over to Apple.com, but wait…. only if your wallet is thick ! If not, stick with this post for a while.

On PC, It might not be a good idea to disable Internet Explorer all together, since a lot of programs use the settings like Network Connection. Just delete the IE Icon from the desktop for now. Download a few other browsers and enjoy, Firefox is still popular and I’ve been using it everyday. SAFARI is also good so is OPERA. Install them and use the one that makes you HAPPY !

NUMBER 3: don’t panic, “oh my PC is slow  after all this !”

Remember the software you downloaded from Number 1 section, they are  bodyguards for your PC. Turn on your PC, then go make a coffee, come back and use it.   The question to you my friend is.. Would you rather have a faster booting PC with no security or a bit slower booting time with BodyGuards ?  I would prefer the later.

NUMBER 4: – Protecting, Parenting, and Free Software Hunt

Create separate user accounts. Create one for Admin, put one for regular user. Put one for your kids, etc, There are lots of features you can turn on and off on VISTA and 7.

For regular users, disable downloading.<– it can stop download viruses to some degree.

Also under standard user, you can customize which sites to visit and not. Put a tick park on Porno as most of these sites are blamed to have Adware, Spyware, Keylogger and some of them are designed in such a way you can not get out of the window. You are glued, stuck and are going to get something out of this site. If this ever occurs, try holding ALT and F4 or CTRL and F4 (don’t panic, you can hold the ALT and CTRL as long as you want, nothing will happen. Windows should close and when your browser starts, close these ASAP. Be quick, delete them from TAB– found in most new browsers)

Avoid visiting ADULT oriented sites all together. Block sites that your Kids/Teenagers should not be visiting. Also don’t install any file sharing programs like Limirewire or Ares. Think for a moment here. “If you download something for free and it has a price tag on a box somewhere on a store ? Do you not care about the developer’s mouth, his or her kid’s mouth ? Programmers work hard to create something and they do need their bread and butter. Besides, keeping those programs could be deadly when your kids  run them and download bunches programs like software, video, what not and everything. Since you were their guardian, anything they do, you will be liable for it including law suits for copyright infringement.

Depending on which country you live, To me, minor means anyone who is below the age of 18.  You should allow a limited time for your minors to be online or use PC.  A lot of time on PC ain’t different than a lot f time playing on video games like XBOX / PLAYSTATION unless they are writing story or drawing or doing some creativie works. These minors (I would call it kids) need to be reading, socializing with family (YOU !), friends, doing extra curriculum activities such as playing games with a friend next door.

Continuation of Number 4….

• Remove pre-installed programs ASAP (because there are other programs that work just as good or even better. And you can use it for lifetime too.) PCs are tied with others such as Toolbar companies like Yahoo or Bing or who knows what ? They want to find a way to get these tiny software installed into your computer no matter what. Before you install anything, take your time, read, and see what you are installing. A toolbar on your Internet Browser won’t make you find anything easier — some of them could be keeping so called cookies, a small file that is tracking what you do every day and trying to show you Ads or sell your things !)
• OpenOffice by SUN has word,spreadsheet,presentation and database package similar to MS Word. It’s the same thing. and It’s free.
• So, what can you do to improve the Hard disk, so it stays longer in your PC, and your programs run faster ? You know the answer : Defrag hard disk more often. A lot of us hate to do this because, it just takes a lot of time to do it. Hard disk is use and we love programs they are installed in every part (called sector in technical term) of the hard disk. Defrag puts these programs scattered into sector into a smooth line. So when the disk needs to read the data, it doesn’t have to move it’s needle up and down. It’s just right there ! Your programs will run faster and perhaps your Hard disk won’t have to do a lot of work.
• Aternative to MSPAINT : Paint.net  – a very nice program, it’s FREE.
• CAMSTUDIO.org – would you like to capture a part of your screen and make a video to show someone ? you can do this with this nice free software.
• CCLEAN – a nice program that knows how to clean your system without deleting system files. There are also more advanced programs out there, but know what you are doing. You can make your PC un-bootable just by deleting a system file.  When in doubt, read help found in programs.
• Alternative to WordPad -  PSPAD (There are many out there, But I love this one because it runs fast and also supports multiple languages.) It has lot of tools and way better than WordPad and it meant for programmers, but hey, you might like it for other reason.
• GIMP is must advanced than Pain.net, as mentioned above, but you learn a lot about this. It looks Alternative to Adobe Photoshop which has a huge price tag. Try GIMP and start learning Graphic Design.
• Alien Arena – what’s a PC without a game ? This is an open source  game which looks and feels like a priced QUAKE. First person shooting game, you can also play online with others.
• Secretmaryo.org – Mario ? Remember, once upon a time, the game that took over TV on every household in America ? This is similar to MARIO, wonderful design, it could be great for your kids toplay. But hey wait a minute, I play this one  (a 30 something man too!) Give it a shot and if you don’t like it, oh well, it’s free !
• VLC – a nice media player that plays a lot file formats. Download and enjoy. It can also play DVD.
• FileZilla – unless you are not hosting any website, escape this one, otherwise, this is a free FTP software, easy to use and updates are seen regular. So get it !
• Hope all these helps you start using your brand new PC. For the software, I am gonna rest here. Always keep an eye on two things before you download (look for logo that says, spyware/adware tested and know where you are downloading your free application.)

Number 5 – Maintenance and Health

• Heat and FAN – Owning a PC is half the cost of total ownership. So better maintain it properlly. To let it cool, don’t place it in a closed surface. Check the fan at the back regularly, is it working ? Too much heat can burn the main foundation of the PC– we all call it “MOTHER BOARD”, and it’s gone bad, we are doomed.

• Most PC fail because of Hard Disk Crash – it’s a proven fact literally. Hard disk has to work all the time; don’t believe me ? look at the green or yellow light blinking all the time, that’s your hard disk running.  It sleep when your PC is shutdown. Run a defrag utility built by OS or you can look for third-party software to increase performance and enhance the life of your Hard Desk. This is what I use.   Auslogics Desk Defrag, get it from download.com. Run this App regularly (perhaps once a week should be good). You can also use the built in Defrag which you can find by right clicking on the Hard Drive Icon, then tools, then, Defrag button.
• CMOS Batter -  There is tiny battery inside your PC and they call it CMOS which stores a lot of info like the type of hard disk you have and also this is the battery which keeps track of Date and Time. If it’s gone bad. Replace it or your Parental control setup for timelimit for kids may not work as you expected. They might not be able to log in at  the specified time since the clock could be wrong. If you don’t change it, you would have to shout, “Hey, did I not tell you, it’s over! Get off the computer… NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!)
• Clean Monitor and Dusts etc using just a light cloth like Tissue paper.
• Look away from your Monitor every now and then or take break if you are constantly working like typing etc. Take a break.
  
• Don’t try to be an Engineer. If it’s not broken, not’ fix it. Don’t try to open the hood and try to clean. If you can keep your home clean, inside is probably clean.
  

I hope these little words packed into this post remain useful to some and would love to hear from those who could share how they are using  their PC ?

TTYL,

Ruben