I like my business. I am doing what I enjoy doing, and I meet a lot of very nice people. But I have been extremely busy lately, and not for good reasons. The problems that everyday PC users are getting (spam, viruses, spyware, popups, ad hijacking, keystroke loggers, and the like) are occurring more and more frequently and are getting harder and harder to fix. So, it's time to reiterate some advice:
1) If you use your PC for business, keep it lean and mean. Try to use your PC only for proper business use, and keep the lunchtime web browsing to a minimum.
2) Even if you don't use your PC for business, keep it lean and mean anyhow! Don't download every piece of just software you find, especially the free stuff.
3) Get a high speed Internet connection, such as Road Runner or DSL. You can't get the required Windows and anti-virus updates on a dial-up system. I have come to the point where I will not (or reluctantly) service any PC that is not connected to the Internet with a high-speed connection - I can't download what I need to do my job.
4) Consider a hardware firewall. The most common type of firewall is included in Internet Router boxes - also used to share your Internet connection with more than one PC. You can get a router locally or in Wilmington.
5) Absolutely install anti-virus software. I recommend Norton Anti-Virus. Even better would be to get the Norton Internet Security package, which includes Norton Anti-Virus, a software firewall (not the same thing as a hardware firewall), anti-spam, and protection from pop-up and webpage ads. Make sure your anti-virus software automatically updates, and make sure you schedule a scan of your hard drive every day. If you prefer, there are other software firewalls, such as Zone Alarm, that you can download.
Windows XP comes with a software firewall, but it cannot be configured in any way and is useless if you have a local area network (LAN). Microsoft promises extensive upgrades to this facility in Windows XP Service Pack 2, coming later this year.
6) Install and use one of the freeware spyware detectors, such as Adaware or Spybot. These are free (contributions accepted) and available at common download websites such as www.download.com. Make sure you run these every week, perhaps more often if your web browsing habits are somewhat risky.
7) Do not open any suspicions email. There is one bad email going around that has no subject and no sender. Don't get curious - if the email is not from a friend or in reference to something you know about, trash it.
8) Watch the websites you browse to. Anybody offering you something for free is VERY suspect. Stay away from the gambling or porno websites.
I have read some trade press recently in which the author recommends switching from Internet Explorer to another web browser, such as Opera or Mozilla. These are less popular (and perhaps less buggy) than Microsoft's offering, and hence have a lower probability of being compromised. On the other hand, many websites use functions only available in IE, so if you switch to another browser your favorite website might not function correctly. I have started to use the FireFox browser, but I have to still use IE for my normal work.
Other columns and articles mourn the perceived coming death of email. They site figures that show that email responsiveness is slowing - people are not reading or replying to email as fast as they used to, or perhaps readers are overwhelmed by spam. In any case, email is only good if you know the person you are sending to is in fact going to read and respond to it.
As I said, it's a tough world out there, and getting rougher by the day. Keep on your computer toes!
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).