|
January 07 2009 6:13:57 AM CST
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Computers & Internet |
Are you ready to surf the Internet?
Sure, once you have your new PC delivered and set up, you can right away connect to the Internet,
start googling away and access any enticing or interesting websites. But are you well-prepared for
the frustrating common problems which have struck many websurfers - beginners, veterans & pro alike?
No? Then read on....
Checklist of essential software needed
- Anti-Virus
- Anti-Spam
- Anti-Spyware
- Personal Firewall
- Web Browser other than Microsoft Internet Explorer
- E-mail Client other than Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express
|
|
|
A common statement of wisdom: Prevention is better than cure...
- Anti-Virus
"Hey, why is this error? The PC cannot boot up properly!"
"How come my PC is so terribly slow in responding nowadays?"
"OH, NO! The PC is hanging again! And I have yet to save my work...!"
"AAAARGGH! All my important document files have gone missing! Were they deleted?"
A basic security necessity to avoid the typical scenarios above as there are various
viruses, trojan horses, time bombs, worms and other electronic threats which attack
files (commonly .com, .dll, .exe, .xls, and .doc), disk boot sectors, system registries,
network performance for the purpose of the crippling, and destruction of computing and
networking systems, and self-propagation to ensure that they continue to "live" on
after delivering their intented payload and spread as much and as far as possible
to hit more victims. And the number of new emerging ones are increasing each day.
Medium of infection first came from removable media such as floppy disks and CD-ROMs
but nowadays are more commonly spreaded via e-mails which entice unsuspecting and
curious users to open up attachments or click on the specified URL links. The other
known approach is surfing of rogue or hacked websites which will download and
activate the offensive programs (unless the web browser is securely configured to
prevent that from happening).
The most popular anti-virus software available is
Norton AntiVirus and
McAfee ViruScan from Symantec Corporation and
McAfee, Inc respectively. The other lesser
known but equally effective ones are
Panda Titanium Antivirus (Panda Software) and
F-Prot (
Frisk Software International).
* Click
here to google for other anti-virus products in the market.
Installing any of the anti-virus software is never complete without immediately
updating your PC with the latest the virus signature data files from its website
or FTP site. Even after that you cannot rest on your laurels for it is important
that you periodically check for new signature updates or software patches, download
and install to ensure that your PC is well protected against any new and arising threat.
Luckily, most of the anti-virus software came equipped with automated check and
update or reminder feature to make life easier for users in this regard.
Most of the software vendors incorporate anti-virus modules into their bundled
suite of software packages known as "Internet Security Suite" which includes
protection against multitudes of other forms of threats as highlighted in this article.
- Anti-Spam
"It's hopeless!! My mailbox is always clogged up! No matter how frequent I clear the junk."
"Another massive load of incoming e-mails to sort thru... just to look for an expected urgent e-mail."
"Waiting for each e-mail download is a dread (on dial-up access)..."
"There are 1001 better things to do - rather than tediously filtering the never-ending junk!"
"An e-mail account is too time-consuming to maintain... I am giving it up..."
Spam (not the trade mark meat produce!) is an extremely irritating nuisance and a huge problem
for all online denizens - posing a threat to e-mail communications. They jam up mail servers causing
e-mail outtages, unproductive work (to sort thru the junk), and may discourage people from using
the rather useful technology in communications. Spam accounts for a least 90% of the world's e-mails
today.
It is basically unsolicited e-mails sent to every e-mail addresses known to be existing, hawking
stuff such as viagras, penis/breast enlargement solutions, porn, college diplomas/degrees/MBAs/PHDs,
credit cards, debt solutions, online gaming, special discounts on products and services, and etc.
Spammers (people who generate spam) would go to great extent to collect e-mail addresses of victims
to target at. The addresses are harvested via various creative means (sometimes using viruses to
scan the victims's address books), bought from unethical parties, and/or just automatically-generated
on major domain names using specially-written programs (hoping for good ratio of matches with existing
addresses).
Because e-mails cost almost nothing to send, spammers can easily send out indefinite number of e-mails
promoting their wares (sometimes are scams!) to their victims and as frequent as they feel like it.
And hope that they would earn money from resulting sales from gullible recipients. Or fool someone to
pay them for nothing.
A far more dangerous type is called "phishing", which are e-mails
masquerading as legitimate notices from banks advising users to update their online banking and credit
card accounts via the URL link provided. See a sample of such phishing e-mail here.
Clicking on the links therein will take the users to websites done up to look exactly the same as the
real ones. Unsuspecting users who key in their account details will have their user names and passwords
compromised. The fraudsters will use the stolen details to clean out funds from the accounts and/or go on
massive shopping spree at the victims' expenses. Note that authentic e-mails from banks or financial
institutions will always address the users personally by name. As a precaution, never use the links
provided to log on into your online accounts and also make sure that it accessed via the secured HTTPS
protocols - the url in your browser will show the URL starting with "https://".
Spam filters will be helpful, even though they may not be 100% effective in screening out the undesirables
mails. The results varies according to the algorithms or rules deployed and depending on the type of spam
contents, subjects, and sender addresses.
Spam filtering products are specific to the e-mail clients. Two of the major spam filtering products are
McAfee SpamKiller (from
McAfee, Inc) and Norton
AntiSpam (from Symantec Corporation).
* Click
here to google for other anti-spam software products in the market.
- Anti-Spyware
- Personal Firewall
- Web Browser other than Microsoft Internet Explorer
- E-mail Client other than Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express
|
|
|
Suggestions? Comments? Or brickbats?
Mail to
|
|
|
|
|
Last update:
February 27 2005 4:40:38 AM CST
The contents herewith may not be reproduced or republished without permissions from XoomCity.com authors.
|
|
|
|