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Stop Pop-up AdsPop-Up Stopper Free Edition - This is an add-on program for Internet Explorer and Netscape that can be useful in stopping those annoying pop-up ads. You can also stop pop-ups by using an alternate web browser application, Beonex Communicator. After installing this browser, you can stop most pop-ups by following this procedure. Free Anti-Virus ProductsAVG (free.grisoft.com) - AVG is a Free antivirus package that we have been using here, it has features comparable to any of the antivirus products that are out there now. It has automatic updates, scans e-mail and floppy disks, and more. The paid, more flexible version is available at www.grisoft.com The free version is usable only on home computers. Avast! 4 Home (www.avast.com) - Avast! provides similar protection to that available in AVG. Parasitic Software (Spyware) ResourcesParasitic software is attached to other programs you download and may even install when you tell it explicitly not to. A large portion of our service calls are the direct result of this type of software. We recommend a combination of Windows Defender, Ad-Aware, and Spybot Search & Destroy to help keep your computer parasite-free. The reason for this mix of software is that we have not found a single program that finds all spyware. This is the case because the computer industry cannot come to an agreement on a standard definition of spyware. Many of the programs the programs shown below find and remove software which can rightly be called "adware" (contrast this with Ad-Aware, which removes this type of software). Adware doesn't really spy on you as such, it may, for instance, simply watch for keywords on the web pages you visit and then serve up pop-up ads related to those keywords. If the keywords found are sent back to another company, however, then it crosses the line and becomes spyware. Parasitic or other software cannot install on your computer unless it has the appropriate permission. The kind of permission I'm talking about is a function of the user account you used to logged into Windows. In other words, if you can do something, so can the malware you encounter. (NOTE: Each of these opens in a new window) Free Content Filtering SoftwareContent FilteringFree AntiSpam SoftwareAnti-SpamFree Registry Search & Replace SoftwareSearch & ReplaceSoftware Licensing ResourcesIf you have questions about whether it is legal to do something with your software, check this resource. Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) Gibson Research - This site has several security-related and other utilities, including Shields Up!, which tests how well your computer is protected from incoming hacker attacks. Hardware ResourcesTom's Hardware Guide - This site has tons of information about the hardware that makes up these things we love (or love to hate, take your pick).
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