Mike's Safety Belt
~~Mike Baynes, MikesWhatsNews
How Good Is Free?
One of the most frequently asked
questions is, "How good are the free security programs".
Internet Security is made up of a
combination of 3 components.
Email
Microsoft Windows ships with an
Email program called Outlook Express. It is a reasonably good program,
provided you keep it updated, as it is constantly being attacked by virus
and hackers. I recommend you use plain text and do not open
attachments unless you have been notified ahead of time by the sender.
I have used Calypso free email program for the past 2 years and recommend
it.
http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/calypso/
I have also used the Email
program which comes with Mozilla, which has been bundled with the browser.
www.mozilla.org
Eudora is another Email program
which has a free 'Lite' version available for free;
http://www.eudora.com/download/
See my ABC article on Email
Security and Attachments here;
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v14/mike14.htm
Anti-Virus
AVG is very popular and has
frequent updates. I see numerous good reports of its effectiveness on
the different help groups I subscribe to;
http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_index.htm
AntiVir Personal Edition is
another good AV program which has performed very well in the Hackfix.org
testing;
http://www.free-av.com/
Anti-Trojan
TrojanCheck - free for personal
use;
http://www.wilders.org/downloads.htm
PestPatrol -evaluation version
has no expiry date but does not allow you to remove pests;
http://www.safersite.com/PestPatrol/PestPatrol.asp
AdAware6 will find and remove a
lot of Trojan like programs and Spyware. It is my favorite Spyware
removal tool;
http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/
Spybot - Search & Destroy is a
similar program to AdAware and has been well received in the various help
groups;
http://spybot.eon.net.au/
See my ABC Spyware article here;
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v18/mike18.htm
Firewalls
From my own personal experience I
can vouch for the Zone Alarm free firewall;
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp
(Look on the right hand side for
the text "Also Available. ZoneAlarm® free download. Click here for details"
~ this is a link. I have used since it was first mentioned on Steve
Gibsons security page;
http://grc.com/default.htm
I have also read frequent good
reports on Sygate free firewall;
http://soho.sygate.com/default.htm
Outpost is another well reviewed
firewall;
http://www.agnitum.com/download/outpostfree.html
For instructions on how to
configure most popular Anti-Virus and Firewall programs see the Hackfix
Configuration guides;
http://www.hackfix.org/software/configure/
No matter how many programs you
have on your computer none of them can work effectively if you do not have
them enabled and keep them updated.
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Mike Baynes is the
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MikesWhatsNews
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