The Coburn Blog

My step-daughter works at Medtronics. She was hired in as a temp thru staff mart a few months back..

One of the things she was telling us, after she got off work one day. She was telling us about their computers, and how they have NO firewall, Anti virus, or spyware removal software on any of their computers.. This was brought to my attention because she knows I’m good with computers, and she thought maybe I had an idea about how to get her scanner, at work, to work.. I did have a couple of ideas for her, but that just got me thinking about virus and spyware software.

I don’t care who you are, a company, an individual, or a family, every Windows computer MUST have a Firewall, and virus protection software, if that computer is connected to the internet in some way. Its more important for broadband customers, but its just as important for dialup and college students connected to the college network also.

Mac users, don’t need to worry about spyware. There are virus detection and removal tools for the Mac and Linux PC’s also, but it doesn’t happen quite as often. Even still, Mac and Linux users should still have a Firewall, to prevent intrusion attempts.

The Windows applications I recommend to most of the clients I work with, are

Ad-Aware SE Personal — for Spyware detection and removal
Spybot Search & Destroy — for more Spyware Detection and removal
Panda Titanium 2007 — Virus Detction and removal
Firefox — to replace Internet Explorer for surfing the web
Thunderbird — to replace Outlook or Outlook Express for email

Using either ad-aware or spybot alone isn’t enough, I find that using BOTH ad-aware and Spybot together, gets rid of 99.9% of the spyware problems out there.. All these programs, except for Panda, are FREE so there is NO reason why anyone shouldn’t be running these on a daily or weekly basis.. For those who are cheap and don’t want to spend the $30/year for Panda virus protection, I recommend AVG Anti-Virus Free 7.5 but whichever product you decide to use, having an antivirus, and firewall, are crucial to being on the internet. We like Panda better though, and I’ll give you an example why..

Both Susan and Angie get alot of viruses on their computers, usually from email, alot of it comes in those spam messages that your not supposed to open ya know? They don’t actually open them, but if you have preview pane turned ON in Outlook or Thunderbird, you can STILL get them that way, which is what they discovered. Thats usually why I turn OFF preview pane, but anyway, we tried different virus programs, AVG was terrible we found. Although its better then nothing, we tried purchasing Panda Titanium 2007 after running their free ActiveScan online virus scanner. Titanium is the same thing, just an installer you put on your computer that runs in the background and automates this process, but anyways, after we found Panda, we haven’t looked back. Panda gets rid of every hint of a virus, and even comes with a better Software Firewall then what Windows XP, or Vista, has.

Using Firefox, instead of Internet Explorer, will also prevent you from getting spyware on your computer in the first place. I know your probably thinking “why another browser when IE works?” …because, firefox protects you from spyware, popups, and other junk that popular peoples computers these days. Whats so bad about spyware you ask?.. Spyware is just a term used in computers, that acts kindoff like a virus, except that, spyware sends out personal information, like to some other computer, about what sites you’ve been to.. Some spyware can even track your credit card purchases online, and send your credit card to some malicious hacker, which is not a good thing. Also, the majority of viruses are gotten thru spyware programs, so I can’t stress enough the importance of cleaning out spyware on your computer.

Another thing you want to do, after you’ve done that, is goto Start — All Programs — Accessories — System Tools, and run “Disk Cleanup” and “Disk Defragmenter” on a weekly basis, along with regular virus and spybot checks.. Disk Cleanup on drive C: is the most important, and Disk Defragmenter on all your hard drives. These are important things to do on a regular basis, to keep your computer running as smoothly as the day you got it.

I was also talking to a lady the other day on the cabs taxi here in Warsaw, about how to connect multiple computers to the internet in the same household, and I told her what we do.

We use the Linksys WRT54G router with 4 port switch

Like I was telling her, Its important for every computer using Cable or DSL, not just any household trying to connect multiple computers to the internet at once, to connect thru one of these routers.. D-Link and Belkin also have similar models, cheaper in most cases, but whichever model you choose, its important to also be connected to a router, if you have Cable or DSL in your home.

Usually what you do, is put the router inbetween the modem, and computer, so like, you plug the modem into the WAN port of the router, then the other 4 ports in the back go to the other computers. That’s typically how it is done, but they have instructions on how to set it up, its real easy trust me.

The reason that is so important, is a router has whats called NAT or (Network address translation) which is just a fancy term for saying, a hardware Firewall. Its important for computers to have BOTH, a software firewall, AND a hardware firewall, and I’ll explain why. See, a hardware firewall blocks incoming intruders trying to gain access to your sensative information on your computer.. A software Firewall, blocks outgoing.. See, alot of times, hackers will put stuff on peoples computers, either by email or spyware, and use your computer for doing their dirty work. A software firewall prevents your computer from being used for bad or illegal purposes by virus writers.

If anyone needs help setting up or installing these programs, or just want to know more information about them, please get in contact with me. I am always available for consultations.

Have a good day everyone.