Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage

If you were wondering what it is and should you install it here is a brief explanation. Many people out there may have come across this less than subtle crackdown on illegal piracy of Windows XP and Microsoft Office products. Once installed you find you PC pretty much at the mercy of Microsoft in respect of you receiving any further updates Microsoft started with an ActiveX component to force owners of Windows XP to validate their version before downloading security updates. This was pretty much rendered useless by various workarounds. If you are a legit user there is nothing to fear about having this tool but if you are not you may find your windows being rendered useless.

What Browser Should I Use ?

Like most things computing there is not really a very simple answer to this as there is quite a choice out there and depending on your browsing habits one might be more suitable than another.

Some time ago Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7. There has been a fairly major update to its predecessor and it has some fairly nice features including a revised interface, tabbed browsing, improved printing features, and a phishing filter. Not to be left on the shelf the other browser companies have been very busy too and have produced revisions to their own products with similar or better features. Quite a few people migrated away from IE6 in the search of a better experience and found it in browsers like Opera and FireFox.

Unfortunately instead of just offering Internet Explorer 7 as an optional download, they are pushing it to customers via the Automatic Windows Update. Which means you may wake up one day soon, after leaving your computer on, and have a brand new browser replacing Internet Explorer 6.0. For many this may not be a problem but for those of us who like to make our own decisions this is very annoying.

For my own choice I use IE7 and FireFox 2.03 but these days mostly FireFox. My partner uses Opera for most browsing but occasionally has to resort to IE7 as there are occasionally rendering problems with some IE optimised sites.

Other options you might want to look at are Maxthon and Avant although the latter has a slightly annoying habit of releasing an update every second or third day which I find a worry.

There are many more out there and at some point I have tried most of them but to be honest they rarely last more than a few days as inevitably I come up against problems with crashes, sites not loading etc.

At the moment in order of preference I would use FireFox then IE7 followed by Opera all solid platforms that will give you a good surfing experience.

When is a Virus Not a Virus

When its a hoax!

Having said this a hoax can become a simply by individuals, in the belief they are doing there duty, forwarding the hoax across the Internet to other unsuspecting individuals, these individuals read the warning and forward it on to still more people. Thus the "virus" spreads throughout the Internet. The next time you receive an email warning of potential hazard to your computer it would be best to report this to your IT manager, if you have one, or perhaps do a search in Google as often these hoaxes have fairly high publicity and it may appear there. Type in a sentence from your mail and see what comes up.

but whatever you do please check out verify its authenticity before forwarding it on to someone. As much damage can be caused by good intention as by those who actually do send viruses on.

Vista or Stick

With the recent release of Windows Vista, you might be tempted upgrade to the latest and possibly one of their best to date. There are different trends of thought on this. Some prefer to wait until the release of the first service pack to ensure a more stable version is available whilst others jump in with both feet. I think for the novices out there it is best to wait for the service pack as you may spend time trying to resolve issues that are beyond you but if you have a good working knowledge why not consider a dual boot system and have the best of both worlds.

An important Step before you rush out to buy a copy, make sure you take a look at the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. This page has a tool which you can download and use to analyze your system to see if it is capable of running Vista. But it can only be used as a guide and you might want to consider some additional homework such as what type of Software you wish to run etc.

Zone Alarm - Firewall

Zone Alarm

High on the list of "must haves" is a good firewall. Now XP made some good steps in improving this aspect of their OS but it was still a VERY long way from being perfect. I had a slight tearing of loyalties on this one as I am quite an AVG fan but as far as the firewall aspect goes I think that Zone Alarm will take a lot of beating. Once again, you may note a theme here, Zone Alarm offers a FREE version for you to upgrade later or simply stay with the free. I love these companies that do this they have real confidence in their products and I am sure you will agree if you give them a try.

Ad-Aware Spyware Removal

Ad-Aware

In addition to problems created by viruses there is another problem that you can have on your PC. This problem can be less destructive than most viruses but can cause severe performance problems and sundry annoyances. Referred to as Spyware these items can be placed on your PC by the unscrupulous to log and report your activities also cause redirections of page views or homepage adjustments to mention but a few. Thankfully help is at hand in the form of Ad-Aware. Once again this reputable publisher offers their product for FREE in the confident belief that you will buy it or the upgrade package at a later date. I find the software an invaluable part of my system maintenance along with AVG and would strongly advise you to add it to yours. Many other titles can cause side effects of their own I have not found this to be the case.

AVG Anti Virus Software

AVG

Why should we use AVG Anti Virus software? Well to the many thousands of people who have had their Pc's or Data destroyed my the malicious connivings of those with little better to do with their live the answer is obvious. I have, however come across a few lucky people who have said " I have never had a virus so see no reason to go to the expense of buying software to prevent it". Once it has been pointed out to them that their PC does not necessarily have to show signs of a virus to actually have one but that they could be happily spreading a virus to many others that they pause to think. There are many and varied Virus checkers out there on the market but there are few that will actually give you there product free AVG is one of these. They are very confident that you will like there product so much so they will let you have it free and trust that you will return to buy the professional version. I use the Pro version and am very happy with it, I think you would be too. You can visit their web site to see what they have to offer by clicking on the image or any of the links in this blog.