Spring Cleaning

I have not posted in some time as you can see from the extensive gap in time here. I have been so swamped that I have not had time to clean my own office. Now I that I have had a day to breath I thought I would do some spring cleaning on my PC & office. PURGE IS THE WORD.

I have ran every tool & backed up all my files. Ghosted my smaller, failing drive to a new larger drive. Updated things ran cleanup programs from ad ware removal to v-scan and even defragged my registry. In cleaning and updating I found that Microsoft offers a free AntiSpyware tool. You can find this tool at Microsofts Site.

Microsoft Antispyware Tool

I have been using for a couple weeks now and have not found any glitches so far. So if you should, then you must...Give it a whirl and don't forget to start on spring cleaning your PC. If you can't, or don't know, how call a professional like me.

863-521-1079

Best Regards,

Christa Harold
My Computer Girl, Inc.

Computer Repair Lakeland, FL

www.MyComputerGirl.com

863-521-1079

      

SPYWARE, BEWARE!!! @@

Caught in a web, free is the price you pay 10 times over.
Revisiting an old subject.
The reason I am going over this again is I see so much of this it is not even funny. I spend hours cleaning up after spyware, adware and malware. Funny enough, viruses have taken a back seat to this epidemic. No matter how much I preach and teach you still seem to come back to me contaminated.
So what do I mean, “free is the price you pay 10 times over?� It goes with the saying that free has no value. If you don’t pay, you surely will later on. Most of us seem to take advantage of that free game or screensaver that you can get anywhere on the web now days. FREE this and FREE that=FREE SPYWARE and COSTLY HEADACHES. Warning, they are loaded with spyware, FOR FREEEEEEEEEE…………
Spyware usually comes with free software applications that you download. It performs some useful purpose, but the price you pay for this "freeware" is having your online behavior (e.g., which Web sites you visit) recorded and that information is transmitted back to the company that provided the free software that you downloaded. This is how you become targeted for advertising, based on the data you inadvertently provided about your interests and habits.
How many of you actually read the licensing agreement that you agree to when you install free software? Often, when you click "I accept," you're agreeing to the spyware installation, monitoring and use of the information collected, DO’H. Though some companies promise not to disseminate the information to third parties you generally have no way of proving whether they do or not.
BEWARE, for there is a plethora of spyware out there, eagerly waiting to get its hooks into your computer. Gator was one of the first to gain notoriety, I am sure you remember that one…GAIN. Of course, not all programs bad. Take Windows XP operating system, it communicates with Microsoft to find updates and report program crashes to better the software and your performance. Other applications send information back to the "mothership". The better ones, such as the Google toolbar, allow you to choose whether to turn that feature on or off while others don't even tell you they're doing it.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, unwanted spyware wastes valuable bandwidth and system resources besides invading your privacy. If you are loaded with it, it can slow your system and/or Internet connection down to a crawl and you will find it impossible to get anything done. Some spyware can even crash your system or cause quirky behavior. The interactive nature of the Internet is what allows it to be so useful.

The federal government is working on making Spyware illegal. This summer, a U.S. House subcommittee approved the SPY ACT (Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass). This law would require a conspicuous warning on programs that gather and transmit information. Keystroke logging would be prohibited. Time will tell if legislation can stop the problem. Just like the increasing amount of unwanted e-mails since the CAN SPAM act was passed last year, the only thing we have notice is there is MORE OF IT. Seems that they have passed an act but are not ACTING UPON IT.


Computer Repair Lakeland, FL

www.MyComputerGirl.com

863-521-1079

      

Web Bugs, ahhhhhh.....

I now have WEB BUGS? As if viruses weren’t enough, GeeZ!


Definition of Web bugs:Special links in web pages that collect much more detailed information about your online activities than a simple cookie can. The bugs then feed all this information about YOU directly into a database containing tons of other information about you that has been gathered and stored by other Web bugs.
The reason many web sites use web bugs is that it helps track how many people have visited a particular web site or to track what kinds of browsers are being used. Advertisers use them to collect information — about you! — such as what sites you're visiting, the contents of the pages you read, and how long you looked at that page before clicking to another page.

For more detailed information on web bugs visit:BUGNOSIS

Computer Repair Lakeland, FL

www.MyComputerGirl.com

863-521-1079