Be careful where you step on the computer trail

Had any experience with StopSign? This is a supposed "antispyware, antivirus tool" that grabs your machine and dumps popups/ads onto it while gleaning information about you. The parent company is eAcceleration. Vaguely I remember something about them and occasionally see this show up in the Spybot S&D list as well as Ad-Aware. If you have had experience with this malware please get in touch. Trying to help someone rid their machine of this infection. Garbage like this is written by people that are horse turds on the computer trail of life.

Let's go over some basic protection ideas. Hey, this is not a claim to have the perfect defense and the beach house gladly receives any input from people that have alternatives. This formula works here and on many networks in this area. Far be it from me to not incorporate a new idea into the protection scheme. If you remember, CCleaner was added to the arsenal just a month or so ago.

ROUTERS: A good router helps alleviate some of the stress. Not a switch or hub - a router. The router must be next to the internet connection. Yes, you can use a router on dialup, but the device has to be capable of handling a dialup connection. A router can be used with one computer. No, you cannot use wireless on a dialup due to lack of bandwidth. If you are using a small network, here is an excellent site that goes into detail about the various aspects -> Schmidt Consulting. This is indepth, precise and well written.

ANTIVIRUS: AVG Antivirus rocks! If you insist on using Norton's, Symantec or whatever they are named today go ahead. Just use the Antivirus program. Stay away from Norton Internet Security (NIS) and Norton System Works. You will pay good money for software that is sluggish and hard to use. If you are using McAfee Antivirus, God help you not only with computers, but with everyday decisions in life. Some folks like AntiVir, Trend-mirco, and there are other programs that create protection from the baddies. After 5 years of using AVG...well, if it's not broke, don't fix it! Don't forget that AVG has a free edition for non commercial users.

ANTISPYWARE: Spybot Search & Destroy, Lavasoft Ad-aware SE, and Javacoolsoftware's Spywareblaster are a must. They are free downloads and all can be found at MajorGeeks. You can donate or upgrade. Please consider helping out these folks that provide us with great tools. While at MajorGeeks, go look at their Geekwear section and other areas. I like this site. Back to the anti-spyware stuff - just installing the programs won't cut the mustard. You have to setup properly, update and scan on a regular basis. They won't work by just residing in your program list. An additional area of this site is under development that will provide a step by step installation and usage guide. This is taking some time, but there will be pictures! If you click on the line just below the beach house pix above, you can find individual links to these wonderful programs.

BATTERY BACKUP: Throw away that $10.00 power strip and get a real backup unit. Please see the post dated Tuesday, August 23, 2005.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to send input or make a comment. As Red Green says, "We're all in this together."

"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing."
-Emo Philips