Has  your computer been running slower than normal? Are you worried someone may be able to access your computer and steal your private information and use it against you? If so,  know that these are feelings widespread  and there is something that you can do to protect yourself on line and work at faster speeds.

Some time back, my 3-year old computer was running so slow that I had to buy a new computer. Or at least I thought I needed a new computer. Then within a matter of weeks of surfing on the Internet, my new computer was also running slowly. In addition, some programs did not run well on my computer, and I did not recognize some of the programs that were running on my computer. That scared me most. Were these programs that were tracking my keystrokes on my computer or programs I did not remember installing? I knew I had to find a answer  fast.

The truth is many people do put up with a slow computer. However, we certainly don’t want others to have access to the information on our computers. But that is exactly what can happen when spyware or malware is loaded on our computers without our knowledge.

According to Spyware Nuker’s web site, “Spyware applications are programs and files that hide on your PC’s hard drive without your direct knowledge. These programs allow hackers and advertising companies to track your every move, both online and even when you work offline. They can track the websites you visit, the items that you buy online, the emails you send and receive, your Instant Message dialog, and worst of all they can even record your credit card number, personal identification numbers, and all of your passwords. If you use dial-up to connect to the Internet then spyware can be used to bill 900 numbers to your phone bill. This is just a short list of the harm that spyware can cause.”

The web site also provides statistics that show spyware is a huge problem effecting many people. “27.3 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years, including 9.91 million people or 4.6% of the population in the last year alone.”

In addition, it is very easy for your computer to become infected with spyware as “The majority of all downloadable games, music, screensavers, etc., can infect your computer with SpyWare or AdWare. Most people do not know that after simply clicking on a random “pop up” ad, their computers may have been infected with SpyWare or AdWare.”

No matter how we get spyware, here are 10 very real reasons you don’t want spyware on your computer.

1. Your computer may start running slower
2. Some programs on your computer will not run correctly
3. You may not recognize new programs that are now on your computer because they may have been installed there by a spyware related web site or program you loaded on your computer.

In addition, you might be worried that:

4. Someone might be able to read your e-mails
5. Someone might be able to access your e-mail list
6. Someone might be able to track the keystrokes you type
7. Someone might be able to access your credit card information on your pc
8. Someone might be able to access your passwords list on your computer
9. Someone might be able to steal your social security number
10. Someone might be able to track all the web sites you visit

As I mentioned, most of these programs get on your computer without you even knowing. However, another frustrating occurance is that some spyware we recognize because we can remember installing AND uninstalling them! When we install some of these handy little utilities to track passwords online or programs to help with e-mail or keep track of the weather, even if we uninstall them, they may not be gone from our computers. They are still in our computers, waiting to spy on us, at the least.

A great way to find and remove spyware is to run a spyware detector and remover. Most spyware detection and removal software today offers a free scan to verify that you do or do not have spyware on your computer.

When it works well, e-mail can be great.  It’s hard to beat e-mail for everything from staying in touch with family to requesting information from businesses or other organizations.  Want to send the same message to several people?  Communicate with someone across the continent?  Transmit photos, manuscripts or other information?  For speed and efficiency, this virtually instantaneous medium is one of the most convenient features of modern life.

But e-mail is not without problems.  If you key in the name of an intended recipient but your message keeps bouncing back, you might not be singing e-mail’s praises.  Ditto for attachments that won’t open or other such nuisances.  With just a little patience, though, you can readily overcome most e-mail problems.  What follows are 4 common e-mail problems along with solutions for overcoming them.

Problem – Returned Messages

This may be the most frustrating of all e-mail problems.  After taking the time to create a message, you click on the “send” button and consider your task accomplished.  But the next thing you know, the message pops up in your in-box with a heading that it did not reach its intended recipient.

Solutions

First, take the simple step of checking to see that the address of your recipient has been entered correctly.  This may seem obvious, but sometimes the only thing wrong is a misplaced letter, the use of “com” instead  of “net”, or some similar error.  If you know the correct address, this is a straightforward matter of double checking each character.  If not, you might need to experiment by sending multiple messages, or by entering alternative addresses with slight variations.  Under this approach, you simply keep track of which messages are bounced back and compare them with the overall list of addresses you used.  If you sent four variations but only three were returned, you have solved the problem by the process of elimination.

Sometimes the source of your problem lies with the recipient.  If messages to other addresses go through but fail here, try to contact the intended recipient by other means and report the situation.  The cause may range from a temporary problem with the recipient’s server to a switch to another e-mail provider, to a full in box.  In this case, simply waiting may be the best recourse.  Or a phone call or other communication may be required on your part to obtain the correct e-mail address.  If all your messages are being returned, you may have a connection problem.  See below for more details.

Problem 2 – You Have Lost Your Connection

Sometimes a failure to send or receive e-mail can be traced to a lost connection with your Internet service provider.

Solutions

If you see a “failure to connect” or “no response” message or have otherwise determined that you have failed to connect, double check to make certain there are no physical problems.

First, check your cables and connections.  If you use a dial-up modem, listen to make sure it produces the normal high-pitched dialing sound.  If not, the problem could be a loose connection.  Locate the phone cord that runs from the back of your computer to the phone jack, and then make sure that each end is plugged in snugly.

If you will don’t hear the expected dialing sound, check to make sure your phone cord is undamaged.  If it seems worn, replace it with a new one.  Other steps include making certain the line is plugged into the right port, and checking the phone jack by plugging the cord into a different jack.  If you hear the dialing sound after any of these steps, you have made a successful connection.

Connection problems may be more common with dial-up modems than with broadband connections, but the latter are also dependent on physical connections.  A loose wire or poorly connected cable can easily be problematic.  Sometimes a glitch occurs that can be best addressed by repeating portions of the initial set-up process.  A simple fix touted by Verizon technical service reps for some DSL (digital subscriber line) customers is to disconnect the three lines from the back of the modem and then reconnect them in a specified order.  When this action is taken, the online connection is immediately regained.

If you are online but keep getting bumped off, the lost connection can be the result of an unintended software command.  In Outlook Express, for example, you will find the command “Hang up when finished.”  If the box in front of this phrase is checked, the connection will automatically be severed each time you send or download e-mail.  Sometimes a misdirected click of your mouse will cause you to place a check in the box even though you do not realize it.  Simply click on the check mark to make it disappear, and the hang-ups will cease.

These 2 common e-mail problems are quite easy to determine and when rectified will make your emailing experience more enjoyable.

As we continue to evolve into the world of e-mail that is part of our everyday life, sometimes little problems arise that bother the user.  Previously we talked about returned messages and lost connections, both which can be aggravating, and supplied solutions.  But there are a few more problems that can affect an e-mail user causing frustration and we will address these here, and again provide reasonable solutions to over come them.

Problem 1 – You Cannot Send a Message

Even when there is not a connection problem, you may attempt to send email, but find that it continues to remain in your outbox.

Solution

Typically this is a software problem, the result of otherwise unapparent damage or corruption to one or more e-mail messages.  To address this problem, first copy any unsent messages as text.  Then save them on the computer’s hard drive or a back-up storage medium.  After all messages have been saved, highlight all the messages in your outbox and click on “delete” or “clear”.  When clearing your outbox, start over.  Just copy unsent messages from the text files, pass them into new e-mail messages and resend.

Problem 2 – The E-mail is Missing an Attachment or the Attachment Won’t Open

An especially handy feature of e-mail is the ability to send and receive attachments.  Transmitting documents, photos or other such information can save time and money compared to the U.S. Mail or express delivery services.  At the same time, attachments can be real headaches.  A common frustration is to receive an e-mail message that refers to an attachment, but then find nothing is there.

Solutions

Often the best solution is to request that the sender try once again, since it is not unusual for the writer to refer to an attachment, but then forget to attach it.  Even if this is not the case, your request might prompt the sender to re-think the attachment’s format before transmitting again.  If the problem continues, consider asking the sender to paste the contents inside an e-mail message and try again.  This may disrupt formatting, but can be an effective way to circumvent attachment problems.

If you see a message that the attachment has been deleted, it may be that your anti-virus software has detected a virus, and you’re better off without it anyway.  But if you find that all attachments are indiscriminately being deleted, check your mail properties.  If a box is checked that blocks all attachments, remove the check mark so that you can receive attachments.  If you then receive a message from an unknown person, or if the message or attachment seems suspicious, delete the message without opening the attachment.

A related problem is to see that an attachment has been transmitted, but find that you are unable to open it.  The causes (and thus the solutions) vary.  In some cases, the problem is that the software used by the sender does not match that of the recipient.  As with a missing attachment, a simple fix is to ask the sender to copy and paste the contents of the attachment within a follow up mail message.  Even if formatting is disrupted, you can still get the gist of the information.  You can also use your own copying and pasting process to reformat the contents, if that is important.

Another strategy is to save the document to your hard drive, and then open the software program that was used initially to create it.  Once this program is in use, your computer may be able to recognize what had been the attachment, and open it.  If you do not have the appropriate software loaded on your computer, you may be able to download it from the Internet; just follow the on screen prompts to proceed.

Problem 3 – You Have too Much Incoming Mail or Cannot Download What You Have

If you are receiving large volumes of e-mail, you may be vulnerable to several difficulties.

Solutions

Many Internet service providers place limits on the amount of storage provided to each user (although some have recently increased storage limits).  If a pre-set limit is reached (perhaps because you’ve gone too long without downloading your e-mail, or have been inundated by SPAM or virus induced flood of messages), additional messages will be bounced back to those who sent them.

Of course the direct approach is to download your mail and then weed it out, but a smarter move may be to access your e-mail account via Web mail.  That way you can see a listing of all messages and quickly delete any that do not appear to be of interest.  The end result is the same, but this step can save a great deal of downloading time if you’re using a dial up modem.  It also adds an extra measure of virus protection even if you have a broadband connection.  Since you’re deleting messages from your ISP’s server before they ever have a chance to infect your computer, it’s like killing mosquitoes before they bite you – instead of afterwards.

If you do not have a Web mail account, it’s easy to get one.  Simply go to a provider such as Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) or Lycos (www.lycos.com) and register.  You can also use a site such as mail2web (www.mail2web.com) or webmail4free.com without even registering.  Go to the site and enter you e-mail address and password.  You will see a listing of all incoming mail, which you can read and then retain for downloading, or delete, as you choose.

A similar challenge may be caused by unusually large message.  Again, this problem is more common with dial-up modems, where hefty messages may take an annoyingly long time to download.  In the worst cases, you may find yourself unable to receive other messages, because the connection with the server where your messages are stored is severed when a time limit has been reached.

Use of Web mail can also do the trick here.  Just log on to the third-party site, peruse the list of messages in your inbox, and choose the one that is the largest (most Web mail programs automatically list the size of each message).  If the message seems of potential interest, open and read it, and then delete it.  Or if it is obviously spam or something in which you have no interest, you can delete the message without even bothering to read it.  Once you have removed the offending message, your other incoming mail will no longer be blocked.

If you do not have Web mail, an option is to contact your Internet Service Provider and ask for help.  Once a customer service representative deletes the offending message from the ISP’s server, you can then download all remaining messages.

Also keep in mind that retaining too much e-mail can be an organizational problem, if not a technical one.  Take time to delete e-mail that does not need to be saved for future reference.  Allowing too many messages to accumulate wastes storage space and makes it more difficult to find important messages when you need to refer to them.  For messages that merit retention, create a series of folders so that they can be readily located, and so that your inbox will not become too full.

10 Steps To A Safe, Smooth Running PC

These ten steps will help you increase your computer’s security. From discovering viruses to learning how to avoid them, this article is a must read!

Windows password:  This is the easiest way to make sure you know who is using your pc. Choose a lengthy password that contains capital and lower case letters. Including a number or two will greatly increase your security. Having a Windows password means that the only people that can log onto a Windows session are people that you have granted access to.

Password Security: You should never write your passwords down. Using the same password all the time will also make it very easy for hackers to reach your personal information. So if you can’t write it down and you’re not supposed to use the same one – how are you supposed to keep track of all of your passwords? The easiest way to do this is to use a password manager. We prefer to use Roboform. Roboform is an easy to use password and profile manager that docks neatly into your Internet Explorer toolbar and keeps track of all of your passwords for you. Roboform also uses a master password system. You will have one password that accesses all of the passwords in the program. This way you can keep all of your information safe and secure. You can download Roboform for free by http://www.roboform.com.

Spyware Remover: Next to spam, spyware is the internet’s biggest annoyance. By definition, spyware is “any software that covertly gathers user information through the user’s Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. 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.” The amount of spyware that exists on your pc is dependent on the amount of internet surfing you do. A good rule of thumb here is to scan for spyware once per week or whenever poor system performance surfaces. If you don’t have a spyware scanner, we recommend http://www.webroot.com.

Antivirus:  This should go without saying, but if your computer is connected to the internet you need antivirus software. With weekly scans and program updates you should be protected from most threats. For added protection, we
recommend using more than one anvtivirus scanner.

Firewall: A firewall will keep unwanted visitors out of your computer. You can obtain a firewall either by using software application like ZoneAlarm or Black Ice Defender, or by using a router with your internet connection. For more information on routers plese visit http://www.Linksys.com.

File sharing: Basically, file sharing programs are the single biggest security risk you will come across. This is because the only facts you have about the files you are downloading are the file name and the file size. It is quite simple to change a filename to dupe someone into downloading a virus or other malware like keystroke recorders. Our advice – stay away from file sharing at all costs. If you need to use it, make sure you have updated antivirus software installed and running.

Research: In a sentence – know what’s out there. http://www.Symantec.com  has a section on their website  that will serve you well. Knowing what types of viruses exist  and how to avoid them will make you a much smarter internet user.

Email protection: Most of the antivirus applications available offer email scanning. If yours does not, you will want to get one that does. Email scanning will make sure all of your incoming and outgoing emails are safe for both you and the recipient. Email viruses spread very quickly by using your address book to propagate. Never read email from people you don’t know and always make sure your email scanner is active.

Network security: Another way that viruses spread is through computer networks. We have a few quick tips to keep your network safe. Always scan any files that come in from other computers. Even if it’s a file you have brought from home. Never allow a file to be placed on your network until it has been scanned. The main server should be the only computer with file sharing enabled. By not allowing computer users to transmit files, you can quickly neutralize a threat.

Maintenance: Performing weekly virus and spyware scans will go a long way to keeping your computer safe. Defragmenting weekly will also greatly improve performance. If you put in the effort, you will be rewarded with a safe and smooth running pc. Not to mention fewer headaches!

By following these ten guide lines, you will greatly improve the performance of your computer. You will also generate peace of mind as you gain a new sense of security.