A visit to the following web site would be advisable to anyone interested in computer security and Internet security:  http://www.stophcommerce.com

And send a link to anyone you know who may be vulnerable to being scammed or hacked.

The site is sponsored by McAfee, and will be posting a series of short videos about Internet security.

After dealing with a number of machines with serious performance issues with Internet Explorer, we have come up with a solution.  Clear out the Restricted Zone. This is especially necessary with Internet Explorer 8.

It helps to use a utility that can clear out the Restricted Zone in mass.  We have used ZonedOut by http://www.funkytoad.com/ .  It is a simple tool that makes it much easier to manage a large Restricted Zone, or delete all entries at once.  It also provides you with an easy way to back up your zone entries before deleting them, so they can be edited and reimporting.  Or if you just want to clear the zone for testing.

Normally I wouldn’t recommend doing this, because the restricted zone can be a good tool for keeping out the bad guys.  But clearing it out improved the performance of Internet Explorer ( and also any browser that uses the IE engine, such as Maxthon).  On one of our machines, IE was taking about 25-30 seconds to open.  After clearing out the Restricted Zone, it opens in about 5 seconds.

Then use the built in tools in IE8, or use a safe surfing security tool such as provided in many security suites and anti-virus software and firewalls.  Just try not to use more than one, or they start tripping over one another.  Same with having multiple tool bars, like Google and Yahoo.  Don’t use more than one.

UPDATE:

If you use any security software that adds to the Restricted Sites list in Internet Explorer, you may want to modify its settings to prevent this.  We have found that Spybot Seach and Destroy will ad about 10 to 15 thousand sites to that list, and Spyware Blaster will add tons more.    In Spybot, go to the Immunizations tab and uncheck the domains for all users on your computer.  In Spyware Blaster, you can disable this by by disableing protections for Restriced Sites. Is that a good idea?  Depends on what your other security software does for you. But, if you don’t, these programs will add thousands of sites back to the list ASAP, and IE will again be slowed to a crawl.

It is incredibly important to keep *all* the software on your computer updated on a very regular basis.  Do not leave this to chance.  Do not rely on programs to update themselves. 

Do use tools like Secunia PSI.  Secunia PSI can help you keep a lot of these programs up to date.  We highly recommend this tool, found at: http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/

 Do insure that you have the latest anti-virus software and  keep it updated with current definitions.

There is a list of software that *must* be updated on a regular basis (if installed):

• Sun Java Runtime
• Adobe Flash
• Adobe Reader
• Your computers operating system, be it XP, Vista, MAC OS, Linux or whatever.
• Your browser, be it IE, Firefox, Opera or whatever
• QuickTime
• Spybot Search and Destroy Immunization definitions
• Spyware Blaster
• Your antivirus software
• Your firewall softwares
• Your Security suite, it that is what you use
• CCleaner or whatever temp file and registry cleaner you may use
• Any other anti-spyware software you may use
• Wordpress, or any server based blogging  or similar tools you may use

http://www.myantispyware.com/

This site provides a number of excellent tools for defeating Malware.  We highly recommend it.

Secunia, the leading vulnerability intelligence provider in the world, has provided one of the best free tools for securing a computer. this tool, called the Secunia PSI is a free security tool designed with the sole purpose of helping to secure your computer against vulnerabilities in programs.

It will scan your computer, rather quickly I might add, for programs that have known security vulnerabilities. It will then provide you with options fixing the problem..

Keeping the programs on your computer patched for security vulnerabilities is a very important proactive means of keeping your computer secure, and the Secunia PSI is a tremendous help in the regard. We have added it to our standard set of security tools, and run it on all computers that we repair or maintain.

We highly recommend it.

The Secunia PSI can be downloaded at the following web site. Please note that there is also an online scanner available.

http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/

Scroogle is a front end to google that encrypts the connection to google and prevents google from recording personally identifiable information.

Check it out:  https://ssl.scroogle.org/

Goggle has developed a new web browser called Chrome. We advise anyone who values their privacy to stay away from this browser. A look at the licensing agreement tells it all:

“[Y]ou give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display,”

Say what?

That’s right “Your browsing are belong to us”

Unfortunately, someday, somehow, someway, somebody may get a hold of your browsing history and your search history, possibly including “unique identifier” and IP address and exact time of the search.  Not good.

And Google is not alone in this,  as most search engines do the same. 

We recommend ixquick.com. The web search engine that respects YOUR privacy.

(awarded the European Privacy Seal)

Extra added bonus!  ixquick also provides access via secure server, so mot only do they not store your search queries, you can encrypt the connection with SSL.

http://ixquick.com  or

https://ixquick.com (SSL encrypted link)

And hey, it also works very well.  Quality seach results.

Password Meter provides a good way to test your passwords for security.  Password Meter can be found at the following web site:  http://www.passwordmeter.com/

Your password can be tested online, or the application may be downloaded for use on your computer.

Go to https://privnote.com/

1. Write a private note (add a return receipt if desired).
2. Past the link to the note in an email and send.
3. It can only be read once and will self-destruct.

Maxwell Smart couldn’t do any better.

The bad news is that, Yes, AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition must be upgraded to version 8 by May 29, 2008.

The good news is that AVG Free is still free.  Now that may seem redundant, but lots of folks thought AVG Free was going away when they had to upgrade to version 7.0.  In fact, ever one of my customers who were using AVG free at that time, thought they had to pay for the new version.  Not true then, and not true now.

AVG Free Version is still alive and well.  Just download AVG Free, version 8 before May 29 and install it.  There is no need to uninstall version 7.5 before installing version 8.   The installation routine will find your old version and uninstall it automatically.

The following link will take you to the download page:  http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe