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FAQ
This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and presented here as questions.
An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure. Virus hunting programs should keep viruses out, you shouldn't need to clean up after them. Our keys to effective virus control include:
- A quality anti-virus program that can scan:
- local and network drives
- email
- web sites and downloads
- Up-to-date virus definitions
- Patching security holes for your:
- operating system, ie. Windows...
- web browsers, ie. Internet Explorer, Mozilla, AOL...
- email applications, ie. Outlook, Outlook Express...
- instant messenger applications, ie. AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger...
- other applications with macro capabilities, ie. Microsoft Office...
- Avoid peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, ie. Kazaa...
Norton Antivirus is the best. We recommend and sell Norton Antivirus for home and very small business installations. At the office, their Symantec Endpoint Protection is the way to go.
Desperate? Scan your system from the Symantec Security Response. After identifying viral infections, learn how to kill your viruses.
Spyware is the biggest problem we're handling at C3 these days. To put it succinctly, spyware sucks.
From Webopedia.com: Any software that covertly gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet; however, it should be noted that the majority of shareware and freeware applications do not come with spyware. Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can also gather information about e-mail addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.
No anti-spyware tool is perfect. C3 uses many applications against spyware. Prevention is always easier than cleaning, we heartily recommend Norton Antivirus, Internet Security or 360 to keep your system protected.
Spyware can come from:
- Freeware or shareware applications
- Web sites
- Email, especially spam
- P2P downloads
- Viruses and spyware work hand in hand!
Spam is junk mail to the millionth degree, it's nearly free to send. At least junk mailers have to pay the post office. 99.99% of it is absolute garbage. Anti-spam programs use a variety of techniques to categorize the email you want from spam and eliminate the spam.
Your email host may offer anti-spam capabilities or you can add it to your system. C3 recommends IHateSpam, but Outlook 2007 does a great job on its own!
Pop ups are web pages that open on their own as you browse the web. Most are advertising and just slow your surfing. Pop ups are generated by web pages or by spyware. The only way to get rid of spyware created pop ups is to remove spyware.
Browser generated pop ups can be eliminated a number of ways:
- Apply Windows Updates to your system! Up to date versions of Internet Explorer include built in protection.
- Add the Google Toolbar to your web browser.
- Or switch web browsers, C3 recommends and uses Mozilla Firefox!
Oh, there are pop ups (on top of your browser) and pop unders (that show up below your browser).
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