Cookies in general are not necessarily a bad thing (just ask Cookie Monster!). Many times, when you visit a website, the site will place a cookie – a small bit of data – on your computer so that it remembers you when you come back. That’s why every time I go back [...] Read more »
How do you delete a virus? How do you delete annoying or malicious spyware? For many people, that’s easy – they call me. I’ve been doing this for years. But what if you can’t get in touch with me right away? What if there are 5 other people contacting me [...] Read more »
My newest guide to computer security is now available for free download. It is called PC Lockdown: How to Keep Your Computer and Data Secure. 30 pages with full color illustrations. Covers lots of areas, including: Antivirus Antispyware Facebook (big section on that) Craigslist Email [...] Read more »
It’s a simple fact: some websites are secure, and some are not. There’s no problem with that in itself; some sites do not need to be secure. This blog post is not “secure”, but that’s fine because I am not asking you to enter any critical information. But what if a website is selling [...] Read more »
Recently I have seen a warning being circulated, mostly on Facebook and through email. It reads like this: There’s a site called Spokeo.com that’s a new online USA phone book w/personal information: everything from pics you’ve posted on Facebook or web, your approx credit score, home value, income, age, even credit card #’s. Remove [...] Read more »
You have a good antivirus program that is updated, you have Malwarebytes that is running all the time in the background, you don’t go to websites that are considered “bad neighborhoods”…so how in the world does spyware get planted in your computer? I recently saw a good example of how it happens. This [...] Read more »
Microsoft Security Essentials is the antivirus program that I use and recommend (announced back in this post on October 25, 2010). In the past few days, a new version of Microsoft Security Essentials has been released – version 2.0. While it’s not mandatory, I do recommend that you get the new version (and in [...] Read more »
Had a customer come to me this past week with a problem. His computer had suddenly become infected with spyware. Every time he booted up, after a minute there would be popup windows appearing that told him his computer was filled with all kinds of threats, Trojans and hijackers (all false of course). [...] Read more »
I have been recommending AVG antivirus since 2004. A couple of weeks ago, AVG introduced the 2011 version of their free program. I downloaded and installed it with no problem, and I installed it on some of the laptops that I sell. In last Monday’s Computer Tip blog post, I recommended getting it. [...] Read more »
Important update: I am no longer recommending AVG as the preferred antivirus. Please see this post for an update. AVG antivirus (free version) has been part of my recommended software for several years (I actually started recommending AVG in 2004). Aside from being free for personal use, it does a great job and doesn’t [...] Read more »
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