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Of the many questions I get from folks regarding the Internet, security seems to come up more and more. Recently one of my favorite bartenders was mentioning that her PC was losing so many resources from uncontrolable pop-up windows - and apparantly alot of Adware running in the background - that she couldnt even save her work.

That prompted me to send her an email with a few suggestions, so I thought I would elaborate here for others interested.

Let's start with the Adware issue. Adware refers to programs that wind up installed on your PC either through the installation of shareware programs or through clever scripting techniques hidden in some web pages. It then can do several things ranging from sending your email addy to spammers all the way to running targeted pop up ads based on your surfing habits. These programs run in the background, use your computers resources, and generally in my opinion invade your privacy.

I found a nice little program called SpyBot Search and Destroy. This is a free program that searches your computer for Adware and allows you to delete it. It then runs while you browse web pages and blocks known Adware programs from being installed. You will want to bookmark the SpyBot web site, as it is Freeware and they do not send automatic updates as new Adware programs are discovered and added to the program. Although it is Freeware they do accept donations, I encourage everyone who benefits from the software to show their support.

After installing and running SpyBot and deleting the items it finds, you should consider a visit to the Zone Alarm web site and download their free firewall software. Firewall sounds like a techy and possibly scary word but you simply install it and let it do it's thing. It is easy to use, it will pop up from your task bar from time to time and alert you when your computer accesses things on the Internet. For instance, the first time you check email it will ask "do you want your email program to access the Internet?". You can say yes and even tell it to never ask again when email is running. What's nice is when youre surfing and it catches an attempt to access your PC, it will ask you things like "do you want to download and install WeSpyOnYou software?" and you can say "nope".

Finally, if you dont have virus protection I would go to McAfee and get it. It is effective and affordable, and it updates itself when you are online every time a new virus comes out. Again something easy to use, that takes care of itself in the background.

For some technical notes, at the time of this article I am running all of these programs on Windows ME. Be sure to read the system requirements and tech notes for each of these programs before installing them to make sure they are compatibloe with your system.

To sum things up I should also mention a favorite of mine, the Google Toolbar. Not only does it reside on your browser allowing you to use handy search tools, it comes with a pop-up blocker that does a really good job. It is customizable, easy to use and a real time saver when researching or resourcing things online.

Good luck with your PC's, I hope this has helped a few get ownership of their computer resources back!

"Rags"