Holiday Gifts for Your Computer

If you've run out of people to shop for, maybe it's time to think of your computer. We're talking practical gifts here, not frivolous stuff like a brightly-colored case (yes, you can buy such things; you can also buy a clear case if you like to watch the electrons run around in circles...).

Firewall

If you have a broadband connection, you really should have a firewall. Yes, your router has a firewall of sorts, and yes, Windows XP has a firewall, and no, neither one of them is adequate for today's Internet environment. Their biggest shortcoming is that they only detect inbound threats. Are there really such things as outbound threats? You bet -- all those spyware programs that "phone home" or use your system as a zombie PC. A good firewall won't allow such programs to send anything out unless you approve it. ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonealarm.com) consistently gets the highest recommendations from the techie gurus we listen to. ZoneAlarm Pro costs $50, but they have a free version that is less flexible but still does the job.

Sp*am Blocker

Note: Because many ISPs now have (not very smart) filters on their email servers, we are substituting an asterisk (*) for the "a" in the word "sp*m" in an effort to avoid getting caught in these filters.

Last month you may remember that we were playing with a new Sp*m blocker called SafetyBar (http://www.cloudmark.com). We have it installed on two machines -- one using Outlook and one using Outlook Express.

The Outlook version is outstanding. We get very little Sp*m in our Inbox (it's consistently around 2%) and almost no false positives -- good messages in the Sp*m folder. In fact, the only false positives we have gotten have been newsletters and catalog mailings. These can be fixed easily the first time they are found, so our false positive rate has dropped to virtually zero.

The Outlook Express version is less polished, although still good. The false-positive performance is identical to that of the Outlook version, but we get noticeably more Sp*m (on the order of 6-7%). It's common to see the Outlook version catch a specific message and the Outlook Express version miss the same message. The options controls for the Outlook Express version of SafetyBar is also less flexible than the Outlook version. But since the biggest concern about Sp*m blockers is that they will block an important email message, it's hard to complain about a Sp*m blocker that maintains a reasonable Sp*m-blocking rate and near-zero false positives. Both versions cost $40/year.

Anti-virus

Few computer users doubt that they need an anti-virus utility these days. And we've gotten many questions about which anti-virus is best. Here's what we usually advise:

1. ANY anti-virus is vastly better than none. If you find one you like and will keep up to date, buy it and use it. Most offer a free download and 30-day trial. Take advantage of that to try several and see which one you like best.

2. Some packages have a reputation for slowing down your computer. Norton is the one most cited. If you have a fast machine you'll never notice it. If you have a slow machine, take advantage of the free trials to find out which ones are a problem for your machine.

3. We use Computer Associates eTrust EZ Antivirus (http://www.my-etrust.com). We've heard varying opinions about it (it's not the highest-rated package), but it has protected us flawlessly so far and doesn't have a big impact on system performance.

Spyware Removal

The latest problem bedeviling computer users is spyware. In fact, many IT departments say that spyware is now a worse problem than viruses. One big caution here -- there is a purported anti-spyware package that shows up in pop-ups that claim to have found spyware on your system and advise you to download their program to fix it. DON'T DO IT! This purported spyware remover is, in fact, really spyware itself.

We know of three legitimate spyware removal utilities. Two are free, one costs. The free ones are very good, but there is some evidence that the one that costs is even better. They are:

1. Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.spybot.info) -- Spybot has been around for quite a while, is kept up to date reliably, and works well. It's interface can be a little obscure at times but we learned it pretty quickly. Free.

2. Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com) -- Ad-Aware works well, but it's update history has been a little spotty. For several months early this year there were no updates available. Then suddenly they reappeared and have been reliable since. Free.

3. Giant Antispyware (http://www.giantcompany.com/download.aspx?prodID=70) -- This one costs ($30), but it comes highly recommended by our favorite computer support person (Mike Whalen - http://www.thecomputervalet.com) and it recently fixed a stubborn spyware problem for us on a system that confounded the two free packages.

Thanks for joining us this month. See you next month.