Archive for ◊ 2009 ◊

Antivirus for Gamers
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 | Author: admin
Most everyone realizes that antivirus and firewalls are must-have protection. But when protection interferes with online gaming, it can be sorely tempting to disable that protection in favor of uninterrupted play. These antivirus scanners tackle the unique problems of gamers so you can play without sacrificing performance or protection. In addition to being game friendly, each of the scanners below has demonstrated superior detection capabilities through certification bodies such as Virus Bulletin, ICSA Labs, and Checkmark, as well as independent testing from AV-Test.org and AV-Comparatives.org.

Avira Premium Security Suite

Avira Premium Security Suite has low impact on system performance but offers a full range of protection, from antivirus and spyware protection, to firewall, email scanning, phishing filter and rootkit detection. Beginning in August 2007, Avira Premium Security Suite also offers “Game Mode” – the ability to put the protection in auto-pilot so you’re not disturbed by warning dialogs while playing online. Plus, a proceed of each sale goes to the Auerbach Foundation, supporting various charitable and social organizations, so you can game better and feel better at the same time. more…

Category: Antivirus & Security  | Tags: , ,  | 3 Comments
Free Wireless Security Tools
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | Author: admin

Tools and utilities to help you test, monitor and protect your wireless network

NetStumbler
NetStumbler displays wireless access points, SSIDs, channels, whether WEP encryption is enabled and signal strength. NetStumbler can connect with GPS technology to accurately log the precise location of access points.

MiniStumbler
A smaller version of NetStumbler designed to work on PocketPC 3.0 and PocketPC 2002 platforms. It provides support for ARM, MIPS and SH3 CPU types.

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Category: Antivirus & Security  | Tags: , , , , ,  | 5 Comments
Securing Windows XP Home Edition
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | Author: admin

Users should follow basic security advice like that found in Security Basics In A Home Computing Environment, Password Security, or In Depth Security. But, there are some additional steps to take that are unique to Windows XP Home edition.

The following list includes five things you can do to make sure your Windows XP Home edition is secure- including tricks and tips you might need to know in order to follow the advice from the other articles and implement those recommendations on this operating system.

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Category: Antivirus & Security, PC Tips  | Tags: , ,  | 26 Comments
Virus, Worm or Trojan Horse: What’s the Difference?
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | Author: admin

So, one day your anti-virus program, say Norton or Panda, alerts you that a threat to your computer has been neutralized. Furthermore, you learn that this threat was a malicious remote access Trojan horse that you had unwittingly executed, thinking the program was just a new update for your computer.

You’re relieved to know that the threat is neutralized, but that leaves you pondering, “What is a Trojan horse, and how does it differ from a worm or a virus?” Although these three malware terms are often used interchangeably, there are subtle differences that make each distinct and which when understood can help you better protect your computer.

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Category: Antivirus & Security  | Tags: , , , ,  | 8 Comments
10 ways to detect computer malware
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | Author: admin

In the ongoing war against malware threats, you need tools that will baseline your system, detect vulnerabilities, and remove existing malware.

Cybercriminals are putting forth every effort to make malware difficult to detect. Successfully, I might add. Ever optimistic, I thought I would have a go at providing information on how to make their job a little tougher.

Baselining is an important reference

Knowing exactly what is running on a computer is paramount to learning what shouldn’t be. Creating a reference baseline is the best way I’ve found to accomplish this. Let’s look at three applications that do just that.

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Category: Antivirus & Security, PC Tips  | Tags: , ,  | 23 Comments
Five security news items that should get your attention
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | Author: admin

A mix of good and bad news caught Chad Perrin’s eye in the second half of 2009. These are five of the most interesting examples.

  1. Microsoft got the NSA’s help with Win7 security. Many are concerned with the potential for “backdoors” inserted into the code at the NSA’s insistence. Some believe that Microsoft would never knowingly consent to such violations of user privacy, though that does not address the possibility of the NSA just ensuring it gets to harvest whatever data Microsoft already collects through use of functionality like WGA and Windows Updates, or that of the NSA finding a way to ensure a “backdoor” vulnerability is slipped into the code that Microsoft doesn’t even know is there. Given its closed source development, the pool of people in a position to notice such a hypothetical subtle security flaw would be fairly limited. While many might believe that Microsoft is above such behavior, few would argue that the NSA is as well, given the recent illegal wiretapping scandal. more…
Category: Antivirus & Security, PC Tips  | Tags: , ,  | 3 Comments
10 free Microsoft programs worth checking out
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | Author: admin

If you know where to look, you can find a variety of useful applications – free from Microsoft. Greg Shultz introduces a few of his favorites.

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard someone say, “For all the money I’ve spent on Microsoft products, they should be giving me free software by now,” I’d be rich! Well, unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. But Microsoft does have a lot of Windows software that is free for the taking. We’re all familiar with the free Windows Live offerings, but that’s not all there is. Microsoft has a lot of free software just waiting for you to find it. You just have to know where to look. Here are 10 free programs to get you started.

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Category: PC Tips  | Tags: , , , , , ,  | One Comment
10 Windows features I would like to see in Linux
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | Author: admin

Jack Wallen recently looked at how certain Linux features might improve Windows. Now he lists some things about Windows that could improve Linux.

I recently shared my list of 10 Linux features I think should be included in Windows. Today, I’m going to challenge myself by finding 10 features in the Windows operating system that I would like to see make their way to Linux. I am not going to play the typical fanboy and make a joke of this by saying there is nothing in the Windows operating system that would be welcome in the other camp. We all know there are plenty of outstanding features in the Windows operating system. But I might stretch the nature of the word “features” to include a few items that are less inherent in the OS and more about the community or business model.

So with that said, let’s dive into this ocean and see what we catch.

more…

Category: PC Tips  | Tags: , ,  | 11 Comments
Five rules for protecting Windows with antivirus software
Tuesday, December 08th, 2009 | Author: admin

The best rules of thumb for virus protection on MS Windows are the same as they have been for years.

Good antivirus software is a critical part of any Microsoft Windows system that communicates with other computers, particularly if it is connected to the Internet and deals with browser, email, or instant messenger traffic. It seems like everybody has his or her favorite antivirus solution and it is different from everyone else’s. For personal desktop systems, however, there are some rules of thumb that seem to be fairly universal among security experts:

  1. Install your AV software before connecting to the Internet. Any MS Windows computer should have antivirus software installed before connecting to the Internet. I have seen malware insinuate itself onto a computer in less time than it took to download antivirus software to use on the computer. If you have not seen that, and you use that as evidence you do not need to worry about antivirus until after you have opened a browser and navigated to a Website where you can download AV software, you are just playing Russian roulette with your computer’s security. more…
Category: Antivirus & Security  | Tags: ,  | 82 Comments
10 Firefox extensions that enhance security
Tuesday, December 08th, 2009 | Author: admin

Compromising Web sites has become cybercriminals’ favorite method of getting malware installed on computers. Here are 10 ways to beef-up Firefox, making it more difficult for the bad guys.

Mozilla Firefox is a good browser to start with, but third-party extensions make it great. That’s especially apparent when it comes to Web browser security, as shown by the following add-ons.

1: NoScript

If you install only one extension, make sure it’s NoScript. By default, it blocks all scripts — a good thing. That’s because bad guys love to use scripts to install malware. This way, you decide whether JavaScript, Java, and other content are allowed to run.

more…

Category: PC Tips, Top Software  | Tags: ,  | 3 Comments
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