How to keep your Windows PC clean

[davem]

[Hamilton]

Would i need to uninstall IE first somehow? Or do you install Mozilla
right over it? Sounds like a great program.

[DIYOHMY]

What kinda sites do you guys surf? I'm "on the net" hours a day, and have had 1 spyware attack ... ever!

Gotta wonder...

[davem]

You can't uninstall Internet Explorer. I renamed the one on my desktop to "Do Not Use!".
Just install Firefox (there is also a browser called Mozilla, make sure you get Firefox) and use it instead.

DIYOHMY, how do you know you don't have spyware? You have to install non MS software to find it.

[DIYOHMY]

That's funny. Again.. not in a vacuum. Try reading my other posts... I've used MANY non-MS software. I've tried the same anti-spy software that many friends have tried... and still none.

Must be the sites you all visit

[gipster]

Hi all,I just joined cause I do like to give my 2 cents about keeping your computer clean.
Here are some FREE programs that work great for me .
http://grc.com/default.htm This is where you will find "Shields up" and a few other little programs .Check his video interviews with Leo Leporte.I think it's further down the page.

http://boozet.xepher.net/beclean/ Small little program to clean registry,temp files ,and a bunch of other stuff. What I like is you can decide what you want to clean.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ Adware program cleaner.

http://www.safer-networking.org/ Spybot Search and Destroy. Another adware and spyware cleaning program.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html If you use Internet Explorer. Stops selected spyware that is listed by them from ever getting to your computer.

http://codestuff.tripod.com/download.shtml Windows startup manager.Works good for me.


http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...e/default.mspx This is Microsoft"s site to their nice antispyware program.


http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ The firefox browser to take the place of Internet Explorer.

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conten...eeDownload.jsp Free firewall from Zonealarm.

Hope these help you all . JIMBO

[DIYOHMY]

C'mon - seriously...YOU'RE KILLING ME HERE. FREE SECURITY SOFTWARE?
Havn't you ever heard that there is not such thing as a FREE lunch?

WARNING: NON-GEEKS, newbies, etc. Stay away from the FREEBIES!!!! Stick with trusted sources. And if you don't know why you need it - DON'T INSTALL IT.

Oh, and if you don't want junk mail, stop filling out those "win a free vacation forms" on retail counters. Connection? I think so.

[gipster]

Sorry DIYOHMY if you feel that free programs that ARE spyware free are not trusted.As I said in my previous post these are programs I use.Sure you guys don't know me from a load of coal and it's good to question what I said . All I'm trying to do is put out some programs I KNOW to be clean and good programs. Since I have started using them I have no spyware on my computer!!!! I consider myself a prudent but cheap person when it comes to software.I do pay for my antivirus program but I know other people use a free antivirus program that works great for them.There ARE good people on the internet .You just got to find them.If you don't believe my recommendations ,do a Google search of the programs followed by the terms "spyware or review or adware or fraud" might help some of you to decide whether I speak with forked tongue.
Don't get me wrong.There is a lot of free programs out there that have spyware or adware on them The ones I suggested DO NOT. Check them out first before you believe me.Research research JIMBO

[davem]

Nothing wrong with free software just because it's free. My entire OS and all the progams I run are free. The open source community likes to say it is free as in freedom, not as in free beer, but either way it doesn't cost me a dime.

I've set up Windows friends with the free version of the AVG antivirus program. Works well, and is a marketing tool for them to put their software in front of you. They encourage you to upgrade to their pay version.

Ditto the ZoneLabs firewall. Free version works, they would like you to buy their pay version.

[DIYOHMY]

Originally Posted by gipster

There ARE good people on the internet .You just got to find them.

I suppose so, but there are also a ton of nut jobs out there who prey on trusting people. Heck - you can't even trust your BANK, or more specifically, the freaks who send you an email to "verify your password" and send you to a site that just LOOKS like your bank. My point is, to the average user, these things are hard to differentiate!

All you fellow geeks out there, whom I have tremendous respect for, you know better. You know when to look for HTTPS instead of HTTP. You know what spoofed sites look like. You know what domain spoofing is. You know where to check if you're not sure. You know how to fix it if it breaks. The average user, the majority of users, DO NOT. Please keep that in mind and add a "caviate": that these things are for more advanced users.

For the record, I am not agains "Open Source". It has its place, but not YET for the average user. Again, us geeks out there are better prepared.

To the beginner, and even intermediate computer users out there... this message is for you. I'm not trying to sell you anything, or recommend that you try anything. I'm just going to suggest that you ask yourself a few questions.

Who supports free software? How many people do you think companies employ to test and verify that free software is safe to use and doesn't make your computer succeptible to attack? What is in it for some small, unknown individual to protect you and your computer? Who are you going to call when your system blows up? The guy who has a day job, but wrote a cool registry utility on his spare time? You think he's even got a support line?

As far as "ADware" goes - free trial versions and stripped down versions of reputable software are fine with me, as long as you are willing to deal with their marketing efforts. If they are from reputable firms, and they want you to upgrade, chances are they want to make sure that you have a good experience. If there is a pay-for version available, it's probably getting better "testing" than the "just free" software. Just be careful, becuase these same people who are offering you something for free, are often the same ones who are dumping spyware on your computer, so that they can get marketting data from you. Seems free, but not if you spend your time removing adware/spyware.

I really wish that the world were filled with good natured people who really just want to do good... and there are good people out there... but the reality is... there are just too many who are not.

If you want to be safe, then use your best judgement, and question the source.

Happy, and safe, computing!
- Michael

[davem]

If you want to be safe, then use your best judgement, and question the source.

Good advice! I will add that if you are not computer savvy, find a nice helpful geek who is. I think a lot of people get their tech support from well intending friends or relatives who really don't know that much.

[jgleason]

Some of my favorite freebies:

Antivirus - AVG Free Edition
Spyware Detection/Removal - Spybot S & D
Web Browser - Firefox
Email Client - Thunderbird
FTP Client - Filezilla
Remote Control - TightVNC
CD Burning - CD Burner XP Pro
Media Player - Winamp

The free alternatives can be as good as or better than many commercial programs. I find that the AVG program behaves much better than some of the more popular commercial programs out there. You couldn't pay me to put Symntec's antivirus program on a system.

My advice - if you don't know what you are doing when it comes to using your computer, find someone that does and become good friends with them!

[Bri]

I find Firefox runs too slow compared to EI on my computer. It's a good browser that's for sure, but for some reason, on my computer, I get tired of waiting for pages to load(yes, even with high speed)

Zone Alarm firewall is great, but, I have the pro version and it jams up, so I went back to the free version and no problem at all.

[jgleason]

Hi Brian,

Interesting bit about Firefox being slow on your system. I haven't had that problem myself, just the occassional site that really wants IE. My default browser is set to IE but I find myself using Firefox about 80% of the time now.

Do you have Firefox 1.0 or an earlier version?

[Bri]

I've got the latest version, because I had removed the beta version from months ago, and downloaded Firefox again just a few days ago. Same problem as before. This site using Firefox takes 45 seconds to come up...with EI it comes up instantly.