Handling of Spam & Spiders For Dummies

I'm annoyed at how these programs infiltrate our systems without our knowledge & I'd better list this here in case someone sends me another invititation by plaxo, friendster, Hi5, birthdayalarm or anything remotely similar because of their policy of putting cookies & keeping your contact list on their server. They will “share” not “sell” these names to their so called partners who are SPAMMERS. That’s why it a FREE service. You can remove it from your PC immediately by going to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. First of all, there are several things you need to do to your computer. Internet sites put cookies & advertisement wares to your computer & it sits in the temporary internet files folder. Then some sites as you surf, put out web spiders/robots to “search” for email addresses & personal information like account passwords & stuff & collects them for spam. The ad-ware is to put annoying advertisements that also sends out a copy of your information to their home website for more spam the next time you log on to the internet. So by understanding the works of the spywares & adwares, here are the websites you can go to download a firewall & a spy robot for FREE. The files are of a considerable size if you only have dial-up so when you get home, cue the download & have your dinner. Of course, if you are in the office with a broadband connection, you ought to get it done as all these things can compromise the security of your system. Another thing you must have is a download accelerator that speeds up download times by more than 30%. Of course, all these would have to be shouldered & protected by an updated anti virus program like Norton or McAfee. (Click on update virus definition files BEFORE you begin any of these downloads. VERY IMPORTANT FIRST STEP). Let’s begin……. Go to www.zdnet.com & search for downloads. Once on that page, search for Sygate Personal Firewall or Outpost Firewall. Click to download. Once finished, unzip the file to install into your computer. This would act as a gatekeeper for all unsolicited information trying to get out of your computer & whatever program that’s trying to get in. You can then choose what you want to allow. Like Internet Explorer, your browser which you surf in, when you log onto the internet, the firewall would prompt you with a message “IExplorer.exe is trying to access 45727409294 port, do you want to allow it to access the network?” Just press yes & check the box so that it won’t asks you again. This is for programs that you want to have seamless access. Allow Norton or McAfee programs to access internet too. Restart computer. Once this is up your computer should be relatively safe from unsolicited spy programs, for the time being. You have do regular housekeeping. If you have a download accelerator, then you will save yourself a lot of headaches. FlashGet Basic version has spywares but the pro version doesn't. You can get it here Amazesoft. Go to Spybot to get the software by Patrick Kolla. Install it after download & click on 'check for problems' button. It searches for all the spy advertisements robots residing in your computer & anything that changes your computer registry. When everything’s found, uncheck those by Windows or Microsoft. Beware though, don’t alter anything that says Windows or Microsoft, as they may have added to your registry as they contain critical updates to keep your system up to date. Then click on fix selected problems. Then this will block them & click on immunise according to the steps shown. Play around with the features & see what else you want to do for your system. It’s really good. You need to check & immunise your system every now & then. Leave the computer on overnight to do all your virus scanning & spy bot checks so that you can follow up in the morning. Second adware removal application you should have is Adaware. Although SpyBot arrests a lot of spywares, it is not enough. You need Adaware too. Yes, a lot of tedious work but well worth it. Beware though, a lot of sites are inaccessible as some of them places cookies on your system as you enter. Now that my firewall is adjusted properly, it wouldn't even allow me to visit Site Meter. I constantly contest with TV Smith to the 'right' or better site tracker to use. Will tell you how to remove spam after this whole process is over. This is just the beginning to prevent more spam. I hate spam. Once all these are done, you need to open Internet Explorer & click on Tools, Internet Options, see the middle section with Temporary Internet files? Click on Delete Files & OK. If you have not done this before, it would take quite awhile as the computer destroys a large cache. Now that I've discovered Firefox, it's bye bye IE. Firefox blocks pop-ups & arrests them like an electric fly-swat! Once done, click on Delete Cookies. Do this once as there may have been a lot of personal information stored on your cookies for retrieval by third parties. Clearing your cache is CRUCIAL IF YOU DO INTERNET BANKING ON YOUR COMPUTER. DO IT AFTER YOU EACH TIME AFTER YOU FINISH YOUR TRANSACTION. Now you are ready to treat SPAM…! If you are not using Microsoft Outlook, then change to it immediately as it gives better control of your email & filters. Select import all mail & addresses when it prompts you that another mail client is your default mail reader. Change the default to Outlook. Then go to Tools, Send/Receive Settings, Define Send/Receive Groups, click Edit, then right at the bottom, click on Download complete item including attachments & check on the box – download items no larger than …….select 20kb. This way, only the headers are downloaded so you choose which ones you want fully downloaded & which ones you want to discard. The offensive messages stays on the server & when they are deleted they will be deleted on the server. When you right click, there are several options to either download message from server or delete. Delete that stupid SPAM. Since filtering begins as you download, you save precious resource, space & time when you discern what’s genuine & what’s not. The latest Outlook comes with Junk Mail control & Rights' Management capabilities. Now that you’ve finished, your system should be relatively secure from Spy & Ad cookies. Just remember to do your housekeeping at least once a week on & every other day for antivirus definition files. Do give me a shout should you get stuck at any point doing these updates. I learnt most of my computer handling in the Dummies' books too.