I just thought I'd share with you that I'm trying a couple of free software items that may be of interest.
The first one is RamBooster. No, it's not a hormone supplement for male sheep! (Could be though!!) It claims to keep your computer's RAM working efficiently. RAM is the PC's working memory, and it can get clogged. I'll let you know whether I think it makes a difference.
The second item I'm trialling is a free security suite from Comodo. The advantage of buying security software from, say, Norton is that you get three pieces of software (antivirus, firewall, antispyware) in one, handy package. The Comodo offering is the first free integrated suite I've come across.
Watch this space for reports.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Unwanted and Unpleasant Downloads
I'm grateful to Jack Schofield at the Guardian newspaper for his recent thoughts on unwanted downloads. Sometimes in our hurry to download legitimate stuff we end up saying yes to additional downloads - toolbars and the like. Mostly they are unnecessary, even if they are safe. Some are downright nasty and to be avoided at all costs.
As Jack says: "Be suspicious of downloads - especially codecs, free music and screensaver downloads - as they often come packaged with malware or unwanted software."
Customers often ask me: "How did the viruses get in? I've got good antivirus and firewall protection." It's a hard one to answer. Most viruses get in from email attachments, dodgy websites, vulnerabilities in out-of-date software, or downloaded files. Usually, I just say: "Well, these modern viruses are very clever, you know!"
But I also advise them (and anyone who'll listen) to save and scan any items they download or that are offered to them on memory sticks, etc. before opening or viewing or playing the file. I save files to the Desktop, and right-click to get a menu where I can choose to scan the file with my antivirus software or any other virus-scanning software I have installed.
Best to play safe - even with files from "trusted" websites.
You all take care, now.
As Jack says: "Be suspicious of downloads - especially codecs, free music and screensaver downloads - as they often come packaged with malware or unwanted software."
Customers often ask me: "How did the viruses get in? I've got good antivirus and firewall protection." It's a hard one to answer. Most viruses get in from email attachments, dodgy websites, vulnerabilities in out-of-date software, or downloaded files. Usually, I just say: "Well, these modern viruses are very clever, you know!"
But I also advise them (and anyone who'll listen) to save and scan any items they download or that are offered to them on memory sticks, etc. before opening or viewing or playing the file. I save files to the Desktop, and right-click to get a menu where I can choose to scan the file with my antivirus software or any other virus-scanning software I have installed.
Best to play safe - even with files from "trusted" websites.
You all take care, now.
Learning Lessons
Someone once said that one of the best ways to cope with the trials and tribulations of life is to regard each experience as a learning opportunity. So I'm going to have a go, and turn my recent email problem into a lesson for us all.
I use Outlook Express for my business email, and it worked fine until I could no longer send emails. Receiving was fine, but sending was a total no-no.
My hosting company checked at their end (the email address is linked to my website), but no problem. My ISP said that there were no problems with their systems. So the cause must be in my computer and/or network set-up.
I checked my router (and updated the firmware), but all seemed OK there.
I then removed my firewall, but no joy, then removed my antivirus software, and still no joy.
At this stage, I decided to see if I could get my emails from another computer in the house - and joy of joys, I could!
So back to the main PC, and after numerous scans for nasties (nothing found), I'm still unable to send messages. By the way, I forgot to tell you that I had searched Google for help on the error message that appeared in Outlook Express, but nothing of any substance was found.
My next plan was to download a copy of Internet Explorer 7, delete IE7, and re-load it. Why? Well, somewhere in the recesses of my memory was the thought that Outlook Express integrates with Internet Explorer. Perhaps the problem was with IE7 - and I remembered the problems my wife had with trying to log into her bank with IE7, and getting her to use Firefox instead.
Whe you delete IE7, you are left with IE6. And, joy of joys, I could send and receive emails with Outlook Express! If you've ever had a persistent computer problem, and found a solution to it, you will know my feelings at that moment!
And the lesson to be learnt here? There is value in approaching such problems in a logical problem-solving way, and what seemed to work for me was working from Hosting Company and ISP backwards to software in the computer. Next time, though, I'll be more suspicious of what's happening closer to home first.
When my joy had subsided, I thought I'd experiment with Internet Explorer 8, which is available in a pre-release download from Microsoft.
Outlook Express still seemed happy, and so was I!
But today is another day - and now Outlook Express will neither send or receive! Damn!! Back to square one. And writing this will help me remember what I did successfully last time. Here's hoping!
I use Outlook Express for my business email, and it worked fine until I could no longer send emails. Receiving was fine, but sending was a total no-no.
My hosting company checked at their end (the email address is linked to my website), but no problem. My ISP said that there were no problems with their systems. So the cause must be in my computer and/or network set-up.
I checked my router (and updated the firmware), but all seemed OK there.
I then removed my firewall, but no joy, then removed my antivirus software, and still no joy.
At this stage, I decided to see if I could get my emails from another computer in the house - and joy of joys, I could!
So back to the main PC, and after numerous scans for nasties (nothing found), I'm still unable to send messages. By the way, I forgot to tell you that I had searched Google for help on the error message that appeared in Outlook Express, but nothing of any substance was found.
My next plan was to download a copy of Internet Explorer 7, delete IE7, and re-load it. Why? Well, somewhere in the recesses of my memory was the thought that Outlook Express integrates with Internet Explorer. Perhaps the problem was with IE7 - and I remembered the problems my wife had with trying to log into her bank with IE7, and getting her to use Firefox instead.
Whe you delete IE7, you are left with IE6. And, joy of joys, I could send and receive emails with Outlook Express! If you've ever had a persistent computer problem, and found a solution to it, you will know my feelings at that moment!
And the lesson to be learnt here? There is value in approaching such problems in a logical problem-solving way, and what seemed to work for me was working from Hosting Company and ISP backwards to software in the computer. Next time, though, I'll be more suspicious of what's happening closer to home first.
When my joy had subsided, I thought I'd experiment with Internet Explorer 8, which is available in a pre-release download from Microsoft.
Outlook Express still seemed happy, and so was I!
But today is another day - and now Outlook Express will neither send or receive! Damn!! Back to square one. And writing this will help me remember what I did successfully last time. Here's hoping!
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