A work in progress

I am providing some links here to places that I find interesting or of help to the average user. Starfish are on their own or they can look up some qualified technician and pay them to fix their computer problems.

Please remember that if you DO call a technician or the help desk for help that you should follow their instructions to the letter, be nice to them, do not claim to be a technician or hold some sort of certification if you are/do not. Remember, they have been dealing with computers and people for a lot of years and can see through any falsehoods or prevarications.

Also that the technician that you are calling to repair your computer has invested a lot of time, trouble and expense gaining the knowledge with which they are endowed. If you are paying a low price for something, you are getting what you are paying for.

Any computer connected to the Internet should have a good anti-virus product installed on their computer and it should be up to date. New viri are released into the wild on a daily basis and if your AV software is not kept up to date your computer and it's data could be at risk!

Your data could be corrupted or erased. You personal information (credit card info, ssn, name, etc.) could be collected and distributed to those who would commit identity theft.

There are several commercial and free products out there. I have listed here those which have a good to great track record.

• Symantec's Norton AV This product has been around for a while and is very good.
• McAfee Another good commercial product that has been around for a while.
• AVG AntiVirus A good FREE product that is updated regularly.
• Avast AV A FREE product that is updated regularly.

Firewalls prevent people from gaining access to your computer from their connection on the internet. While Viri are a major concern, firewall protection is just as important. People can commandeer your computer remotely and use it to send out spam, spread viruses, distribute software illegally, distribute credit card information illegally among other things. Any of these activities can cause you to lose your internet connection (your Internet Service provider, or ISP, can disconnect you) as well as there being legal obiligations.

• Symantec's Internet Utilities This product provides a firewall, anti virus software and spam blocker.
• McAfee's Internet Utilities This product provides a firewall, anti virus software and spam blocker.
• Zonelabs Zone Alarm Firewall Both free and commercial products.

Anti Spyware software helps to keep spyware and tracking information off of your computer.

Spyware can track your movements on the internet and send the information back to the person or company that wrote the software. They in turn sell this information to spammers and other companies who flood your Inbox with bogus offers and porn. Spyware can also cause your computer's operating system to malfuntion, pop-ups to flourish, slow down to a crawl or stop funtioning all together. This of course will cost you when you have someone come out and try to remove these annoying programs. Or it will cost you in down time and lost information when you have to reinstall you software and operating system.

The programs listed here will assist you in removing and/or setting system variables that will prevent the downloading of spyware. While a lot of these programs perform automatically, it is still advisable to have a qualified technician perform this function for you. If you have already run the programs and your computer is functioning poorly or not at all, inform the technician of the program that you used and the steps that you took. This will speed up his troubleshooting and lower your final bill.

• Spybot Search and Destroy FREE - A great tool for removing spyware from your computer. Donations accepted.
• Ad-Aware SE FREE - Free for personal use. Another great tool for removing spyware from your computer.
• Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta Currently FREE - I have had some reservations recommending this program ever since they had listed one company as spyware, purchased the company and then delisted it within their product from spyware to trusted.

• The Free Country - A website devoted to free software of all kinds. Most definately worth a look.
• Snap Files - A website which lists free and shareware products for the computerphile. Networking utilities, HTML editors, all sorts of stuff. Great for computer techs and admins.

Lots of people like to play with their web sites, adding features and contecnt, wondering how people do those interesting things with their sites like displaying popup menus, scrolling text, etc.

Here is a list of web sites that help make it easy for the beginner through the advanced web site designer. Most are free.

• Dynamic Drive - source of HTML, DHTML and Javascript source code.
• Javascript dot com - source of HTML and Javascript source code.
• Open Source Web Design Site - source of Open Source Web designs and information.