Security | Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners

Posts Tagged: Security

Holiday Computer Madness

: photo credit: Hometown Invasion Tour

Every year for the last 7-8 years, I bring up a version of this tip to help save you time and money during the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years visiting season. Please follow the advice. I can guarantee that it will save you and your computer lots of grief.

With all the traveling done during the holidays, your computer is bound to be taken hostage by friends and family wanting to check their email or play a game or two. Unlike the TV, a computer can be victimized, unintentionally, by all this attention. When everyone returns home, you may not recognize your computer or have problems with the way it runs.

If you like the way your computer is running currently, set a few ground rules for the use of your computer (and please follow the same rules if you are the one doing the borrowing of a loved ones precious PC). In no particular order, here they are: Continue reading →

5 Simple Rules to avoid SCD (Slow Computer Disease)

photo credit: jennconspiracy

I’ve written about this before, but it bares repeating on occasion for new visitors to the site and long time visitors who haven’t learned yet. The advice is simple:

Do not download free screensavers, wallpaper, email programs (Incredimail, etc), or games from the Internet.

Unless you are WELL versed in the origin of these items, they can easily destroy your computer’s ability to compute.

“Slow computer” is the most common computer ailment Windows users search for on the web. Sadly, slow computer disease (SCD*), does not have to be the pandemic it is because it is 100% preventable.

Here are my 5 simple rules to prevent SCD for Windows users: Continue reading →

Application Tips / Internet Tips — 12 Comments
7
Nov 09

How to download, install & configure AVG Free 9.0 – Video Tip

AVG released version 9 of their free antivirus/antispyware product a couple of weeks ago. You may have started to see notifications from them that you need to update before December 1. Typically, they provide a deadline, but previous versions work for a number of months after the deadline.

After using the new version for awhile, it appears they did make it faster and improve the scanning speeds as well.

If you currently use a previous version of AVG, there is no need to uninstall the old version before proceeding with this one. The installation process will simply upgrade your old version.

If, however, you currently use any other antivirus product, you need to uninstall it before proceeding with this installation.

Here’s how to complete the installation: Continue reading →

Application Tips / Internet Tips — 4 Comments
23
Oct 09

Password Mania

photo credit: Mirko Macari

We are bringing this tip out of the archives because remembering passwords and having strong passwords is more important than ever with increased identity theft and the increased amount of business we conduct over the web.

I have accumulated nearly ninety user names and passwords for various email services, web sites, banking sites, etc. Without my password tracking software, I wouldn’t be able to remember them all or, I would be using the same user name and password for every instance (an extremely dangerous practice). You can use software solutions to securely save passwords on your computer or Continue reading →

Internet Tips — 6 Comments
22
Oct 09

Protect Your Identity

photo credit: CarbonNYC

Identity theft is becoming an enormous problem in the United States and worldwide. Identity theft involves the misuse of your personal information to fraudulently purchase goods, services or open accounts to purchase good and services.

According to a FTC report, identity theft cost victims, businesses and financial institutions $500 billion in 2003. The average victim spent more than 75 hours cleaning up their name and accounts at an average loss of more than $11,000.

Contrary to popular opinion, most identity theft results from stolen mail, stolen wallets or purses, trash rummaging or the victim falling prey to a scam, not online shopping. In fact online shopping with reputable dealers is safer, in many respects, than shopping in your own city. Of course, most retailers operate safe businesses and have reputable employees, but the ever increasing reality is that we must be careful with our personal information.

Follow these guidelines to help Continue reading →

General Computer Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 3 Comments
20
Oct 09

Why use free security software?

photo credit: kalandrakas

A customer asked me a question that I get asked quite often on the radio show and when I’m making my daily house or office visits. “Why do you use free products versus the larger commercial pay products for keeping a computer secure?”

My answer can be summed up in word: effectiveness.

Time and time again, the products I recommend prove themselves in the field as being thorough, effective, and unobtrusive programs. Unobtrusive is a big one for me these days as the leaders in security software (Norton, McAfee, etc) bloat their software beyond recognition and slow down even the fastest, newest machines. Norton claims that their newest versions are Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — 3 Comments
7
Oct 09

Massive E-Mail Phishing Attack Hits Web

Phishing refers to the act of trying to get your personal information in order to use or steal your identity. Phishing can happen with snail mail, email, text messaging, social networking, phone, and more. Today, I learned of a new threat aimed at web based email systems like Gmail, Yahoo email, MSN/HotMail, and others.

You can read the entire article here:

Massive E-Mail Phishing Attack Hits Web – Enterprise Security Today

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — 1 Comment
6
Oct 09

Choosing a smart password, from the Gmail Blog

I’ve written many times about passwords and their importance in keeping you safe online. Search the site for passwords to read them and also take a look at this article from the Gmail Blog at Google.

Official Gmail Blog: Choosing a smart password.

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — 2 Comments
30
Sep 09

Microsoft’s Security Essentials

photo credit: CarbonNYC

Microsoft released an updated and completely re-tooled version of their computer security product. It is now called Microsoft Security Essentials. I have not had a chance to try it out yet (wasn’t accepted into the beta testing this summer), but through my reading it is getting much better scores than their awful Live OneCare products they sold for a couple of years.

Overall, it supposedly runs much faster than OneCare and protects Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — No Comments
9
Sep 09

System Engineer fed up with Windows vulnerabilities

Interesting article from a ZDNet author, Christopher Dawson, who also works full-time as a school district computer engineer. Despite locking down Windows computers with security software, tweaking firewalls, and making sure all Windows updates are up to snuff, threats still sneak into their computers. I understand the frustration he exhibits in the article regarding the time and effort spent fighting these threats…especially knowing how much more trouble free a Linux computer or Apple computer can be. Worth the read:

Give me one good reason not to just move them all to Linux | Education IT | ZDNet.com.