We do have a few secret tricks of the trade, and there are some proprietary tools we use in the shop. But we also use a lot of freeware and shareware programs, and we don’t mind sharing them.
A note of caution: most of this stuff is for people who know what they’re doing. Use at your own risk! And there is some risk to messing around with the tools you use to tune your computer. Installing and removing trial versions of programs can leave remnants and cause corruptions in your file system and your registry, and that’s trouble! We recommend that you find a combination that works for you and leave it alone.
And one about shareware: we use and recommend several shareware programs. When we find a shareware program we like, we buy it and we hope you do too! But all the links on these pages point to free, fully-functioning programs that you don’t have to buy to use. Thanks and a tip of the hat to our friends at Major Geeks for permission to link to their download site!
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ANTIVIRUS
We use and recommend Norton Antivirus. But we don’t endorse “Internet Security Suites.” All the antivirus companies these days offer software packages that are supposed to give you an all-in-one panacea for all your security needs. They tend to be bulky resource hogs that conflict with other software, duplicate services that you already have, and actually slow down most computers. So whether you go with Norton or someone else, we highly recommend a standalone antivirus program.
Most antivirus programs will cost about $40 a year. We believe it’s money well-spent. But if it’s too much for you, there is a free alternative called AVG. This company has a large, robust network antivirus system that they sell to large networks, and the give away the free version for personal use only. You can download it here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/AVG_AntiVirus_Free_Edition_d886.html
NOTE: CORPORATE USE OF AVG FREE ANTIVIRUS IS PROHIBITED BY COPYRIGHT LAW.
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ANTISPYWARE
These days, spyware and other forms of malware are a bigger threat than virii. In addition to your antivirus program, you need protection from the spies. There are dozens and dozens of competitors in this arena these days. Trust us…we’ve tried almost all of them.
This is a rapidly-changing arena, and the tools we use are constantly evolving so our recommendations do change regularly. These are the ones we are using today, and we run all three of them on every computer in the shop:
SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY – In addition to scanning for and removing spyware from your computer, this program offers a nifty Immunization feature that places all known spyware sites in your Internet Explorer restricted zone, thus rendering you immune to that particular site’s boogers. One caution: there is another feature called ‘Tea Timer’ that can conflict with firewalls. We recommend disabling the ‘Tea Timer’ feature during installation.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/SpyBot-Search_&_Destroy_Tools_d2471.html
SUPER ANTI-SPYWARE – This program has an active client very similar to ‘Tea Timer’ that doesn’t conflict with most firewalls. It also offers several repair tools that can reverse changes made by many spybots.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/SUPERAntiSpyware_d5116.html
MALWAREBYTES ANTI-MALWARE – We’ve found this program to be effective against trojans, rootkits, dialers and other types of malware that don’t fit into other categories. It is a shareware program, but the free version is fully-functioning.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Malwarebytes_Anti-Malware_d5756.html
All of these programs do require your pro-active participation. You do have to open them up and run the scans; there is no such thing as a ‘set it and forget it’ solution. How often should you run them? That depends on how much time you spend on the internet and where you go. If you surf a lot, we’d say weekly. The real answer is: as often as you remember!
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FIREWALLS
A firewall is a program that stands as a sentinel at your back door (your network connection) and monitors traffic into and out of your computer. There are several good firewalls such as Zone Alarm, Sygate and Kerio. Many of them offer free versions.
But the problem with firewalls is: every time they spot suspicious traffic, they pop up a notification wiindow that says ‘such-and-such is trying to access your computer,’ and when you look at the such-and-such it’s usually gibberish. It’s impossible to make an intelligent decision based on the information they offer. So most people flip a coin, or use the ‘eenie-meenie-miney-mo’ method. And you wind up approving bad programs and blocking good ones.
Because of that, we have come to believe that the built-in Windows Firewall that is already on your computer (in Windows XP and later) is the best of all, simply because it makes all of the decisions for you. We do not recommend other firewall programs for less-than-advanced users.
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DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS
BELARC ADVISOR – This program builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware. Very handy to have a complete listing of everything that is installed on your system, including install keys.
http://majorgeeks.com/Belarc_Advisor_d1385.html
HIJACK THIS – This free utility generates an in-depth report of all the startup settings for your computer, and allows you to remove items from startup. It will not remove files or programs; it merely prevents them from starting and running all the time. IMPORTANT: HijackThis does not determine what is good or bad. Do not make any changes to your computer settings unless you know what you’re doing!
http://majorgeeks.com/Trend_Micro_HijackThis_d5554.html
WINDOWS MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC – This simple memory tester from Microsoft will thrash both the RAM and the onboard memory system of your motherboard, and let you know if you have hardware memory problems. You’ll use the downloaded utility to write a CD, then boot on the CD to test your memory.
http://majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_Windows_Memory_Diagnostic_d3955.html
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REGISTRY
CCLEANER – CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. CAUTION: Under default settings, this program may erase or disable customizations such as Internet Explorer auto-fill info and most-recently-used listings.
http://majorgeeks.com/download4191.html
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