Mashed Articles

Writen by Lanard Perry

Is your computer running slower than ever? Does it crash a lot?

If so it might be because advertisers have loaded it up with Spy and Adaware without your knowledge.

“Spyware” is a common term for files that are installed on your system that allow companies to monitor your Internet activity.

“Adaware” is software that will show you pop up ads over and over. These files can be extremely dangerous to your PC and could cause major problems.

They track the websites you visit, items that you buy online, the emails you send and your Instant Message dialogues. In a worst case scenario they can even record your credit card number, personal identification numbers, and all of your passwords.

I know all of this because I learned the hard way. Fortunately, I never had any personal data stolen, at least that I’m aware of. But every now and then, when least expected, my computer would crash, sometimes resulting in days of lost activity and income.

It seems like I spent a small fortune fixing one problem after another. I bought expensive software programs that actually made my problems worse, then another hard drive that I really didn’t need.

Ultimately I had to take my computer to 2 different techs to work out all the bugs. If only I knew then what I know now.

After months of frustration and too many hundreds of dollars I care to admit to I finally learned what it takes to keep my computer healthy and functioning properly.

Below is what I learned and a recommendation that can help you avoid what I went through.

1. Get a spyware removal program. You’ve heard it before, but have you done it? This helps as your 1st line of defense against hackers and viruses.

2. Avoid opening email attachments from people you don’t know. When in doubt, don’t do it. Granted, this isn’t so easy to do when you’re in the people business, but I still encourage you to manage it as best you can. This alone eliminated a lot of my problems.

3. Scan for viruses and clean your registry at every opportunity. I spend a lot of time on the Internet working on my website marketing products, sending and receiving email and the like.

Consequently, my computer is vulnerable to attack from a lot of different ways. So, I scan it for viruses and clean my registry daily; sometimes several times a day depending on how long I’ve been on it.

If you don’t have a good spyware program you should get one. It’ll help you optimize your computer’s performance, and get it in tip top condition in no time.

Here are the benefits.

They’ll let you:

know if you have any files that are infecting your PC

help protect your computer and eliminate trojans, worms, dialers, browser hijackers, etc., and

help you avoid serious problems before they happen

You’ll be amazed at how much speed and problem free use you can regain from the use of your computer after you install a good spyware program.

If you don’t have one I strongly recommend Spyware Nuker. It’s relatively inexpensive and is money well spent to safeguard your computer and personal and professional information stored on it.

You even get to try if for free before you buy it and I believe it comes with a 90 day satisfaction or money back guarantee.

Happy listings and please feel free to call me if I can be of assistance.

About The Author
Lanard Perry is the author of “Farming Expired Listings”, a real estate listing system that shows how to list 1-2 listings a week. Visit http://www.farmingexpiredlistings.com for more info.

Writen by Greg Lietz

Running a business from home has its advantages, including no commute, a more accommodating work schedule, fresh coffee and home-cooked meals at any time you want.

But running a business from home using a home wireless local area network (WLAN) with your computer may lead to thievery of confidential information and hacker or virus penetration unless proper actions are taken. As WLANs send information back and forth over radio waves, someone with the right type of receiver in your immediate area could be picking up the transmission, thus acquiring access to your computer.

Here is a list of things that you should consider as a result of implementing a home wireless network setup used your business:

Viruses could be loaded onto your laptop which could be transferred to the company’s network when you go back to work.

Up to 75 per cent of home wireless network WLAN users do not have standard security features installed, and 20 per cent are left completely open as default configurations and are not secured, but are made for the users to have their network up and running ASAP.

It is recommended that home wireless network router/access point system setups be always done though a wired client.

Always change the default administrative password on your home wireless network router/access points to a secured password.

Enable at least 128-bit WEP encryption on both card and access point. Change your WEP keys periodically. If equipment does not support at least 128-bit WEP encryption, consider replacing it. Although there are security issues with WEP, it represents minimum level of security, and it should be enabled.

Change the default SSID on your router/access point to a hard to guess name. Setup your computer device to connect to this SSID by default.

Setup router/access points so as to not broadcast the SSID. The same SSID needs to be setup on the client side manually. This feature may not be available on all equipment.

Setup your home wireless network router to block anonymous internet requests or pings.

On each computer having a wireless network card, network connection properties should be configured to allow connection to Access Point Networks Only. Computer to computer (peer to peer) connections should not be allowed.

Enable MAC filtering. Deny connection to wireless network for unspecified MAC addresses. MAC or physical addresses are accessible through your computer device wireless network connection setup and they are physically written on network cards. When adding new wireless cards / computer to the network, their MAC addresses should be registered with the router /access point.

Your home wireless network router should have firewall features enabled and demilitarized zone (DMZ) feature disabled. Periodically test your hardware and personal firewalls using Shields Up test available at http://www.grc.com. All computers should have a properly configured personal firewall in addition to a hardware firewall.

Update router/access point firmware when new versions become available.

Locate router/access points away from strangers so they cannot reset the router/access point to default settings. Also, locate router/access points in the middle of the building rather than near windows to limit signal coverage outside the building.

You should know that nothing is 100%. While none of the actions suggested above will provide full 100% protection, countermeasures do exist that will help. The good collection of suggested preventative actions contained herein can help you deter an intruder trying to access your home wireless network. This deterrant then makes other insecure networks easier targets for the intruder to persue.

Greg Lietz is an internet business man, freelance writer and computer enthusiast. His websites provide information on wireless internet networking and personal computer hardware that may be of interest to you.

Writen by Azhar Iqbal

1. You must download and install Spyware program as it helps your PC perform better and better, some stupid viruses can cause a huge damage to your performing PC. Download the Beta Spyware from Microsoft, this utility from Microsoft has produced brilliant results, it runs in the back drop and helps to destroy and keep your PC free of Spyware.

2. Buy or Download an Antivirus utility such as NORTON or MACCAFE, You are connected to the internet you may get a Virus through Junk E-mail, website etc and you will unknowingly be scattering them to others. AVG by Grisoft has a free antivirus download. Get it right now, and as I’ve told you I’ve always loved the commercial program Norton Antivirus by Symantec.

3. Running broadband connection can cause some further dilemmas, run a software firewall. I like Zonealarm by Zonelabs. They provide a free version. If you are fractional to Microsoft, then go ahead and exploit the one included with XP.

4. Study has shown Mozilla Firefox works better than Internet Explorer, Opera and Netscape when it is about scanning the internet viruses, run the Firefox web browser; it’s a lot better than Internet Explorer with some great features. And even if you like Explorer better, it doesn’t hurt to have two browsers at same time.

5. Defrag once every three months—sooner if you run anything moreover Windows 2000/XP.

6. Do run WPA (rather preferred) or WEP encryption on router and wireless network. It’s easy and simple additionally would protect your data from snoops that can snatch it out of thin air.

7. Always keep the backup of your precious data. There’s no worse feeling in the world than losing everything. Utilize another hard drive—internal or external. If your data is not huge then you may also keep it in multiple CDs and USB drives. Network PCs and transfer backups from one to the other. But what if your house burns down? Ponder keeping the data off site as well; keep the disk at a family member’s home.

8. Press CTRL + D on our homepage http://www.arbico.co.uk we are computer retailers in London and never mind providing technical help on sophisticated issues.

Don’ts….. Always applied Don’ts…

1. Be extra cautious when opening the Email attachments since you are not sure with that—even if they come from a known family member or friend’s Email account. Viruses broadcast by infecting a PC and emailing themselves to everyone in the infected computer’s address book. Ponder a code word to exploit in the subject line of Emails. Your friends and family would know the particular keyword (maybe mango etc.) and would comprise this in the subject when attaching a file. A bad keyword may be Viagra.

2. Never provide your REAL email address when signing up for anything online until that site gets trusted through some sort of scan. It will fall it into enemy hands and you would spend most of your time sifting through trash when looking for real email. Ponder using the service at (www dot dodgeit dot com). You can create fake Email addresses here for free.