What are the best computer maintenance programs ?

It is very common to find problems in the operating system, whether for reasons of virus attacks or damage caused by software upgrades and installations. That is why next we will make mention of the best maintenance programs to improve the stability of your computer.
Tune up Utilities is a great tool to keep your computer clean of any system failure.

This program can solve any problem found in the system. It has a very user-friendly interface, where you can customize the level of maintenance to be executed on your computer. Also thanks to Tune Up, you can enable options that the system cannot change manually. You can also delete files that are not in use and cleaning the Windows registry.

Glary Utilities offers great options to optimize your computer quickly, safely and easily. This software is distributed free and it is a great tool to maintain the smooth functioning of the computer. You can delete temporary files and system browser, correct and repair installments. Glary Utilities operates silently decoding system files, so that way it can be analyzed in a more effective way all the files found in the system.

Win Utilities Professional Edition software counts with a great reputation. This great tool will help maintain adequate system performance. It contains utilities to clean the system registry, temporary files on the disk, and internet browser history. In addition to this program it can perform various local disk defragmentations that are installed on your computer. To remove the fragmented files you have the option for safe disposal. It has a cleaner start to monitor the proper implementation of programs that load when Windows starts.

Argente Registry Cleaner is another program that will allow us to optimize the system. This software will maintain the proper functioning of the computer. It aims to repair, fix and clean any registry damage is located on your computer and after that it can scan your computer. It works quickly because it only looks for invalid entries in the system log, then to locate them provide a list of errors in the system, so the user will have an overview of the records that need to be repaired, cleaned or eliminated.

Wise Registry Cleaner Pro is a utility that help you analyze the system registry thoroughly. Thanks to their great tools, this program will display an overview of the records that are damaged in the system. It also identifies and cleans up any system error log. It recognizes the records clearly prove to be dangerous to remove, and those which are safe to delete.

For security purposes, Wise Registry Cleaner previously made backup of the registry, so that way the system can be restored in the event that causes any problem with the program. Moreover, the record scan engine is complete, safe and fast.

Best internet security software

Programs to increase the security level while you are surfing the internet :

It is really common to suffer some attacks of different kinds of virus when you use the famous internet explorer. Between the most famous viruses we can find the Trojans, spam and the well-known spywares which are the commonest problem of any computer. The spyware is also known as the spy program due the objective of these programs is to intercept all the movements of a specific victim to steal the information and later this will be sent to the cyber-pirate or also known as hacker.

The spyware is the commonest virus on the internet due it cannot be detected by the user neither the antivirus.
These kinds of programs get infiltrated at the time when you visit any suspicious website. Mostly they are stored as a cookie, JavaScript, ActiveX, which can be downloaded by the user indirectly.

They also can be stored in our operational system when we download a free program from the internet, those kinds of viruses are known as freeware due they got linked along with the program, and occasionally they can contain some kind of Trojan or another kind of virus like the spyware.

Those viruses can alter the performance of the system by blocking some websites and programs until they overload the work administrator. Besides that, your internet explorer will respond really slowly, this one can be count as a symptom of this virus.

Next we will mention of a great number of programs which will help you to improve the performance of your antivirus, actually these programs will help you to fight against the viruses called spyware:

Spybot search & destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/) : Is one of the most used antiviruses is the , which has a great number of tools to help the regular antivirus to develop a better performance. One of the advantages of this program is the automatic actualization every day. It can eliminate malware, adware, hijackers between other kinds of viruses.

Besides it counts with a process called Tea Timer which helps to avoid the modifying of the register system. It is also important to mention that this kind of program is distributed freely on the internet.

The Super Antispyware (http://www.superantispyware.com) : This one posses a multi-dimensional format in it. It can detect quickly the Trojans, dialers, worms, adware between other, after complete the detection process the program will eliminate the virus automatically.

The spyware Blaster (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com) : Is another program commonly used to block the unwanted downloads like Active X and other suspicious programs wandering through internet and waiting for the chance to infect an innocent computer. Besides it block the downloading of any automatic cookie found while you use the internet explorer.

The hijackThis (http://www.trendsecure.com) : It has a great advantage; this program can offer a complete report about all of the actions and modifications developed without your authorization.

Besides the programs mentioned before, there is also the Malware bytes, the Anti-malware, Ad-Aware 2008 free and the Spy Sweeper 5. Another way to battle the spyware is the online antivirus, for example the Kaspersky, Panda Active Scan 2.0, ESET Nod32 Online Scanner, Bit defender, between others. To use those programs you must deactivate the system restorer, after that it is recommendable to start the system on safe mode, just in case. After analyzing all of the programs, you can clean each one of the documents and modified files with the CCleaner.

The commonest option to prevent the attacks of a spyware may be when you activate the Firewall of the operational system, this software works as a blocker between the system and the internet. This uses some kind of filter which can process the information according to the security level offered by the current explorer.

Actually these days, the newest way to commit a fraud or a cyber-robbery can be done with the called “Phishing” which works with modified HTML codes offering to the users; or victims in this special case, the total look of a safe website. For that reason it is recommendable to forget about those advertisings which ask you for your secret password or your private data because they are commonly used to achieve suspicious objectives.

There are many websites with a really high security level due they have a safe protocol, a clear example may be the websites of a count in a bank, the counts of an e-mail, or some big stores which posses a URL of the kind “https://” instead of “http://”.

What is phishing and how to stay away from phishing scams

If you search on internet what is phishing Wikipedia may define it as “phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as user names, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.” This definition itself says that phishing is a special program which is created to run some unofficial web data on your web browser to acquire your personal details such as user name and passwords or your credit card details or your internet banking details.
How phishing works
Example 1: Suppose you are checking your emails and you found a mail from your bank. You’ve gotten e-mail from them before, but this one seems suspicious, especially since it threatens to close your account if you don’t reply immediately. What do you do?
Example 2: or suppose you have received an email from a social network which you are using with text like “Congratulations Mobipride.Com has selected you as a global administrator but we need to verify your account as soon as possible to give you moderator controls of the website click on http://mobipride.xyz.co.xy/verify.php”
Those message and others like them are examples of phishing
Most people associate phishing with e-mail messages that spoof, or mimic, banks, credit card companies or other business like Amazon and eBay. These messages look authentic and attempt to get victims to reveal their personal information. But e-mail messages are only one small piece of a phishing scam.
­1. Phishers decide which business to target and determine how to get e-mail addresses for the customers of that business. They often use the same mass-mailing and address collection techniques as spammers.
2. Once they know which business to spoof and who their victims are, phishers create methods for delivering the message and collecting the data. Most often, this involves e-mail addresses and a Web page.
3.This is the step people are most familiar with — the phisher sends a phony message that appears to be from a reputable source.
4.Phishers record the information victims enter into Web pages or popup windows.
5.The phishers use the information they’ve gathered to make illegal purchases or otherwise commit fraud. As many as a fourth of the victims never fully recover.
How to stay away from phishing scams.
Here are few steps you must follow to stay away from being a phishing victim.
1. Always read terms of services (“TOS”) of website or Privacy Policy of website before you sign up to them. usually you will find some text like “Do not tell your password to anyone including our employees”. That means you have to keep your password highly secure.
2.Read the email carefully.. Phishing emails always redirect you to fake website if you see our Example2 above the website mentioned in the email is Mobipride.com and the attacker is asking you to verify your user name and password on site which have domain  http://mobipride.xyz.co.xy which is not a TLD (Top Level Domain) i.e. Mobipride.com of the website in concern. Immediately block such senders.
3. Avoid emails which are created to gain trust from you.
eg:
a. I am Amanda and my husband died in car accident. He left 50 million US dollars for me. I like to give it to you… etc.
b. Hello son I am your uncle some attackers are trying to attack on my website take this user id and password and log in to check.
or
c. US state lottery. Congratulations!! You have won $1000000000 Call 18990200xxxxx to claim.
or somtimes
d. Pop up on some site opens saying Congratulations!! You are the 100000 th visitor of this site call xxxxx to claim your gift/cheque/money.
These are some real examples you must ignore such phishing attempts.
4. You must use virtual keyboard while entering data on your bank website or e-commerce related website if you are on public computer or you are not sure that some harmful Spywares like keyloggers are installed on your PC.

Stay Safe in Cyber Cafe

Some ways to protect your identity and your data on a public terminal
Public computers, like those found in cyber cafés, hold two types of risks. First, you don’t know what programs are installed on the computer; so there’s a very real danger from malicious programs like keyloggers or spyware that can capture your keystrokes to figure out passwords and other confidential information or monitor your browsing behavior. Second, over-the-shoulder peeping can enable others to find out your passwords. Moreover, you have to be extremely careful about protecting your privacy on such terminals, since you don’t know who will use the computer after you.
Here are some tips to keep yourself safe while using a computer in a cyber café (or an airport or hotel).

Always log out: While checking mail, instant messaging or using any other service that requires a username and password, remember to click ‘log out’ or ‘sign out’ when you’re done. Simply closing the browser window is not enough, because if somebody uses the same service after you, there are chances of them accessing your account. Also, don’t save your login information through options that allow automatic login. Disable such options before you logon.

Stay with the computer: While you’re browsing, you should not leave the computer unattended for any period of time. If you have to go out, log out and close all browser windows. You can start afresh when you return.

Clear history and temporary files: Internet Explorer saves pages that you’ve visited in the History folder and in Temporary Internet Files. Your passwords may also be stored in the browser if that option has been enabled on the computer that you’ve used. Therefore, before you begin browsing, do the following. Go to Tools > Internet Options in IE. Click the Content tab and then click AutoComplete. If the checkboxes for passwords are selected, deselect them. Click OK twice. After you’ve finished browsing, you should clear the History and Temporary Internet Files folders. For this, go to Tools > Internet Options again. Click the General tab and go to Temporary Internet Files. Click Delete Files and then click Delete Cookies. Then, under History, click Clear History. Wait for the process to finish before leaving the computer.

Avoid online financial transactions: You should ideally avoid online banking, shopping, or other transactions that require you to enter sensitive information like credit card or bank account details. If it is urgent and you have to do it, take the precaution of changing all your passwords as soon as you can. You should change the passwords using a more trusted computer, like at home, at a friend’s place or in office.

Be alert: Stay alert and aware of your surroundings while using a public computer. Snooping over the shoulder is an easy way of getting at your passwords; staying alert will help you avoid this.

Security Advice To Protect Against SPAM

Spam is one of the most annoying things that you can encounter while using your email accounts. These unsolicited email messages are usually sent by dubious individuals or companies trying to sell something to you. In some cases, they can even be very dangerous since many hackers use spam messages when looking for potential victims. Spam emails are usually sent en masse to various mailing lists, news groups and individuals, with the intent of hacking into their systems. Many people may not realize it but chances are, every single person who has an email account has received at least one spam email message. While spam can be annoying or bothersome for individuals with personal email accounts, they can also hit companies and organizations and they can be used to break through their security as well.

Many spam emails messages also contain various forms of viruses, worms and other forms of malware that can harm a computer and compromise its security. This can be inconvenient for people who use computers at home, but it can have more pronounced negative effects in a company setting. This is because company computers are often connected to a network and if one terminal’s security is bypassed and it gets infected with malware, the chances of other computers in the network getting infected can go up as well.

There are many ways of controlling spam depending on how you use your emails accounts. Free email accounts like gmail and yahoo mail often have spam security filters that do an acceptable job at sorting out spam emails. Many email clients like outlook and apple mail also have built in features that can help with managing spam. However, if you need a more robust and powerful solution to controlling spam, then there are a lot of really good commercial security products available in the market today.

There are a number of different methods which can be used to block off spam; methods such as spam reporting, spam tracing, hiding your email from spammers, and spam blocking and filtering. All these methods are quite useful and will definitely lessen the amount of spam sent to your email. The following are short explanations on how these security techniques work.

Spam reporting
This can be done quite simply as most emails come with this feature automatically built in. One has to simply label the received email as spam and the email provider will automatically block it off.

Spam tracing
This is normally not necessary as there are much simpler ways to get rid of spam. This entails having to track down the sender and then reporting to your email provider.

Hiding email
The easiest way to avoid spam is to avoid posting your email around the Internet. It is not a good idea to leave behind your email in forums or leave them visible within social networking sites as spammers will gladly send emails to any address.

Blocking and filtering
Once spam is received, the email address of the sender can easily be blocked off and one would never have to worry about receiving email from them again as their email will be automatically filtered for your security.