AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

• Do NOT use Norton or McAfee.  They're trying to do too much these days; (Anti Virus, Anti Spam, Spyware Removal, Internet Security and Parental Controls).  They're being labeled as "bloat-ware" programs

• Your computer will take a huge performance hit.  Chances are, your version is expired anyways.  Instead of having an all-in-one program, choose what kind of protection you need and only use those programs.

• AVG is free for home use.  Updates and scans daily, scans inbound/outbound email.

Norton / Symantec Virus Encyclopedia

• If a virus if found on your computer, it's important to see what kind of damage the virus may have done.  If the virus was tracking your https (secure web sites) keystrokes, looking for account numbers and passwords, your identity may have been stolen!!!!

Norton Virus Removal Tools

• Some viruses require more then just deleting the infected files.  For some of the more damaging viruses, you should run a virus removal tool BEFORE having your antivirus program fix the virus.  This will remove the infected files and also reverse the changes it made to your computer.  Sometimes, the manual removal steps require expert computer knowledge and can be very time consuming.

AVG Anti-Spyware Free Edition

• Always runs in the background for real-time protection

• Easy to use

• Daily database updates

• Heuristics to detect unknown threats

• Automatic cleaning engine

Ad-Aware Spyware Scanner

• Be sure your computer is free from annoying pop-up programs, home page hijackers, etc.  No spyware scanner will get more then about 70% of spyware objects and unfortunately they won't get ride of the worst offenders.

SpyBot Search and Destroy (spyware scanner)

• In addition to scanning for spyware, this will also block thousands of bad web sites (pron/virus/hacking/etc) to your Internet Explorer blocked site settings

Tips on removing spyware

• Disable System Restore

• Uninstall offending programs from the Control Panel

• Boot into SafeMode

• Manually scan c:\Program Files directory for offending programs

• Unhide all hidden files/folders

• Sort the system32 directory by date (most recent at the top) and look for recent entries that look suspicious.

• Look at the properties of the file and see what company is on the Version tab. If there is no version tab, it's probably an infected file; same if you don't recognize the company info on the version tab.

• Move those files to a temp folder or delete to the recycle bin

• Some files are securitized so they can't be deleted. In this case, boot to an XP CD, choose Recovery Console. Once at the DOS prompt, locate and delete the file(s)

• Remove startup items using MSCONFIG

• Use REGEDIT (make a backup before you make any changes).

  • Examine the startup items in HKEY CURRENT USER / SOFTWARE/ MICROSOFT / WINDOWS / RUN and RUN ONCE. 

  • Do the same under HKEY CURRENT USER / SOFTWARE/ MICROSOFT / WINDOWS / RUN and RUN ONCE.

  • The step above must be done for each user that has an account on the computer

• Many other processes are required to rid your computer of spyware and viruses. If the above steps make absolutely no sense to you, don't take a chance as you could make your computer unusable...you'd better call PC!

AVG Anti-Rootkit Free Edition

•  What is a rootkit?

  • Rootkits are used to hide the presence of a malicious object like trojans or keyloggers on your computer. If a threat uses rootkit technology to hide itself it is very hard to find the malware on your PC. AVG Anti-Rootkit gives you the power to find and delete the rootkit and to uncover the threat the rootkit is hiding.

Eblaster (Windows)

Cybersitter (Windows)

CyberPatrol (Windows)

Content Barrier (Mac)

Vanquish / VQME

• Upon installation, Vanquish will scan your address book and sent items in your email and develop a list of approved senders

• You can add domains and additional approved emails at anytime

• Only emails that match your approved list will be forwarded to you

• Unapproved emails will stay online for your review.  From there, you can release them to your inbox

• Vanquish will filter about 99% of spam.  It's not based on rules, logic, keywords etc. Spammers are always one-step ahead.  This is the best technique available for home and small-business users.

Backup My PC

• Download version 4.85

• Download version 5.0 (must install 4.85 first)

• You'll be able to configure a backup selection of your important folders and backup to a flash drive, external hard drive, CD-ROM/DVD or to another computer on the network

Carbonite

• This is a terrific backup option as it continually backs up via the Internet, requiring no interaction on your part

• You choose which folders or files should be backed up

• Your data is backed up online to the secure Carbonite servers

• As you change files (like an Excel document), the new version of the file will be copied to the online server and replace the previous version

Adobe Reader

Adobe Flash

iTunes and Quicktime

Office 2007 viewer for Office 2003

WinZip