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Hints to make things safer...
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Never accept programmes from friends, family, or strangers.
If it's such a good programme, ask for the name, and go find
it on a
download server you can trust, or even the developer's/publisher's website.
Australian computer magazine cover CD's are also a good source of safe, virus free software.
That is the safest thing you can do to protect yourself from a
viral infection.
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Ensure you always have the
latest virus definition files for your virus scanner.
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Do not trust Microsoft's web site. If you need updates to your operating system,
get them off a cover CD from a magazine. Put microsoft.com and microsoft.com.au
on your banned list in your browser, and also in your firewall.
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Go to
grc.com and make sure your system is not vulnerable.
The Gibson Research Corporation website is probably the best site on the Internet for
checking the vulnerability of your computer. Whether you use a dial-up connection,
broadband, or any other type of Internet connection, you really need to make sure
all the back-doors in Microsoft's operating systems are closed.
Worse Case Scenario: Personal data, including pictures, documents,
usernames and passwords, etc, are copied from your computer to a hackers computer.
Then you get a read error, or similar, as your hard disk drive is being formatted.
This happens to computers on the Internet everyday. Keep reading.
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Please, please, use a firewall when you connect to the Internet.
Black Ice and
Zone Alarm are about the two most popular firewalls on the market.
You may also wish to download this beta version of
Trojan Defense System, and run it over your system
just once. It only works for a month or so. Best bet is to back-up your registry, install the
TDS software, reboot.
TDS will start automatically. Make it do a thorough check of your system. Uninstall it. Reboot. Reinstate your
old copy of your registry. Make sure you keep the original download, so you can reinstall it next time you get
suspicious. Click
here to go to the publisher's web site.
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When To Defrag Your Hard Disk Drive?: If you use your computer for two hours,
every second day, then once a month is just fine; If you use your computer
for more than two hours, every day, then maybe twice a month; If you don't
have any friends (hmm.. sounds like me), then three
times per month is just fine. Any more than three times a month creates too
much wear and tear on your hard disk drive, and therefore reduces it's life
expectancy.
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BACKING UP YOUR DATA: I've worked in the PC repair industry in the past,
and truly, the number of people (grown-ups... adults, u 'n i) i've seen cry
when asked whether they had a back-up, is sad! If it's really important to
you, back it up today - tomorrow it may be gone. If you don't know how to
back-up your data, a simple "copy" to your floppy disk drive is good
enough. Please back-up your important data!
Other Australian Freebie Sites:
PiratePete
iWin.com.au
Link to
Dead-Set-Free-Stuff In OZ! with one of our banners...
Click here.
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