Since I bought
my first computer back in 1997, a blazing fast Packard Bell with a whopping 28
Megs of RAM and a huge 2.1 GB HDD, I logged thousands, if not tens of thousands
of hours on the internet. My name is The
Bluesman and I am an addict.
One of the first
things I learned, way back then with my blazing fast 52 kbps dial-up AOL
account, was how to keep others out of my PC.
I faced all sorts of threats, from the “Script Kiddies” lurking in chat rooms
running punters, and their ilk causing chaos with all manners of other
“proggies” on the network, I learned very quickly, that I had to protect myself. Then there were the more nefarious attackers,
with auto-dialers, root kits, key stroke loggers, and browser hi-jacking
viruses. I enjoyed the freedom of
visiting any website I desired, but learned very quickly that freedom came with
a price. Over the years, I managed to
become infected numerous times, and several times, so badly, that I just
re-formatted the HDD and re-installed Windows rather than try to find the
solution on the internet. The causes of
most of my problems were from downloaded “cracks” or key generators for
software I didn’t intend on paying for. Those
applications rarely did what they claimed to do, and often times came with a
Trojan Horse of some sort.
Fast forward
eighteen years. I no longer download “Warez”
or Torrents, and my internet use is benign, almost boring, being used mainly
for research and watching (my guilty pleasure) “The Trailer Park Boys” on Netflix. What I want to share with you today is how I
keep my PC and internet experience safe and secure. It’s easier than you think, costs nothing,
and pretty much runs itself. I put a
link to all of the applications I run at the end of this post. All of them are free, and highly recommended.
Virus
Protection
I’ve tried a
myriad of anti-virus programs, but the one I have been using the longest, and
has never let me down is Avast. Its
basic protection is free, and it keeps an eye on the websites you visit, the
applications you download, and it automatically updates with new virus definitions
at least once daily. Since running Avast,
I have had ZERO problems. No infections,
no spyware, malware, etc. Best of all,
it doesn’t bog down your computer like some others (Ralph Cramden’s upstairs neighbor)
that come pre-installed on your machine.
It runs in the background, you won’t even know it’s there, until it
alerts you of a threat.
Scripts
and Tracking
You would be
astonished as to how many scripts are running on the average website that have
absolutely nothing to do with serving the content on said site. There are social media scripts, targeted ad
scripts, click-bait, and sorts of marketing and tracking scripts with the
intention of keeping track of where you go, what you’re shopping for, and how
to make revenue off of your visit. For
example, on CNN.com, there are 13 trackers running on their homepage alone, 12
on the FOX News site. It’s no one’s
business what you do on the web, and for that, there is Ghostery. Ghostery, also free, is a browser extension
(I use Chrome) that monitors and blocks scripts on a website. It’s fully customizable allowing you to White
list certain scripts, or you can block them all if you wish. Ghostery ads a bit of transparency to your
browsing experience.
Ghostery,
and the 13 tracking scripts it’s blocked, running on CNN.com
PC
Cleaning and Health.
Spend just an
hour online, and your machine will gather all manner of Cookies, Temporary Files,
and other files that take up space on your PC.
It’s a good idea from time to time to delete all of that crap, and clean
up your computer. That’s where CCleaner (Crap
Cleaner) comes in. CCleaner (yep, it’s
free) will perform a scan of your computer and create a list of cookies,
temporary internet files, browser history, and allow you to delete them all, or
choose which ones to keep or delete. You
can also choose which cookies you want to keep or delete, and you scan Windows
Registry for errors and fix them automatically.
CCleaner also offers the ability to overwrite what you’ve deleted,
increasing your privacy.
ADBlock
AdBlock is a “must
have” browser extension. Like its name
denotes, it’s an application to block ads.
AdBlock is awesome, another free application, and it runs in the
background monitoring every website you visit blocking ads. It even blocks those stupid “click-bait” ads. You know the ones I am talking about, “Ten Hollywood actors you didn’t know were
Transvestite Nazi Eskimos”. Right. AdBlock blocks ads, pop-ups, automatically
opening browser windows, and is customizable so you can unblock ads, pause it,
or disable it on certain pages, or entire domains, if you so desire. AdBlock is worth its weight in gold!
Below I have
provided a list of links to all of the applications I’ve mentioned here. Go ahead, download and install them and start
protecting your PC right now!
Avast
Anti-Virus - https://www.avast.com/en-us/index
Ghostery - https://www.ghostery.com/en/
CCleaner - http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
AdBlock - https://getadblock.com/
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