Best Antivirus Article
Spyware remover
If you regularly or even occasionally use the internet, chances are you’ve come across an annoying and malicious set of programs affectionately referred to by computer users as ‘spyware’. Like ‘adware’, spyware programs track your internet usage, collect personal information, spawn ‘pop-up’ advertisements, and can even alter your internet browser settings. Spyware generally refers the kinds of adware that are covertly installed onto your computer without your consent.
Many spyware programs will cause your computer to slow down in its performance, and may even cause lock-ups and crashes. For this reason I highly recommend using a spyware remover on a regular basis to help keep your computer working at it’s best. There are a number of spyware removers available today, and the two I most highly recommend are ‘Spybot – Search and Destroy’, made by Patrick Kolla, and ‘Ad-Aware SE’ produced by Lavasoft. Both of these programs are available in a basic form free of charge. More advanced forms of the programs are available for a small fee, however I have personally been more than happy with just the free versions.
In more recent times, Microsoft has jumped into the spyware remover business and has released a free update for Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Windows 2000 called the ‘Windows AntiSpyware Beta’. Like all beta programs, it is in its testing stage, but is intended to be released as a free product for Window’s users sometime in the near future. One major benefit of the Microsoft spyware remover is it is often able to detect and halt spyware as it is being installed, whereas most other spyware removers are normally only able to catch spyware after it is already on your computer.
Be wary when looking for a good spyware remover. There are many advertisements today for spyware removers that are misleading, and there are some phony programs that actually install spyware of their own if you use them! For this reason, its unadvisable to use any spyware remover that you see advertised in a ‘pop-up’ add, or other flashy and obnoxious advertisement, as these are often the programs to be wary of. Before using a spyware remover, do some research on it online, there are many online communities and forums that discuss which spyware removers are good and which ones are potentially harmful.
No single spyware remover is perfect; you may find better success with some over others. A good overall strategy is run more than one program to increase your chances of keeping spyware free. I run both Spybot and Ad-Aware at least once a week, and install updates for these programs whenever they are available.
Anti spam
It is estimated that Americans own, use and operate approximately 50 million e-mail accounts. For a product or service seller, who predominantly works online, that represents nearly 50 million prospective clients. This universe of untapped potential customers has proved difficult to resist for many people. And unfortunately, the ones who exploit it the most are spammers who send across spam e-mails.
Most of the unsolicited e-mail that you get in your mailbox, may be categorized as spam. The typical traits of a spam e-mail are that it is usually, if not always, addressed to several people, pitches a product or information that is useless or irrelevant to you and comes to you as a message several times, with no un-subscribe option. Of course, this is only a broad generalization. Spammers today have found ways and means of beating the system to get their message across.
There are a number of anti spam tools and software available on the Internet. Basically, anti spam software has the following attributes. It helps you control the spam emails that enter your inbox. It does this by enabling anti spam filters and blockers to keep out known and recognized spammers. It enables you to wage an anti-spam war by specifying custom filters, based on subject, domain name, specific words in the body of the e-mail etc. Anti spam software also allows you the ability to segregate friends from spammers, thus ensuring that genuine mails get to you.
Considering that spam goes hand in hand with other malicious Internet clutter like viruses and Trojans, it is not surprising to note that several virus protection companies have joined in the anti spam war. Symantec Corporation has its own product – Symantec Brightmail Anti Spam – to battle spam. There is also a Norton version – the Norton Anti Spam. Microsoft too offers its own version of an anti spam software. A look at any reputed computer magazine will also show you a number of anti spam products. Finally, an internet search could reveal lots of anti spam products that you can read about, understand and buy to suit your specific needs.
www.anti-spam-software.com has a proprietary software called Spam agent that can be used to weed out spam. www.spamkiller.com is another anti spam site worth visiting. And www.spambutcher.com, as the name suggest takes anti spam software to another level! But not all anti spam software are commercial products. Recognizing the need to weed out spam from the Internet, a number of individuals and corporations offer a basic version of anti spam software as freeware or shareware. www.webattack.com for instance has some pretty nifty anti spam tools and software that you can download and use. www.nonags.com has an entire section dedicated to anti spam software, most of which are free to download and use for individuals. Other popular sites like Download junction also offer a wide array of anti spam software for individuals.
Spam, which is already an irritant today, is slowly growing into a problem that needs to be weeded out in order to keep the Internet free and global. The more spammers clog up bandwidth and irritate users with their spam, the more anti spam protection users will equip themselves with. Ultimately, it will defeat the very purpose of communication over the internet, something that we all share and enjoy today. So, go the anti-spam way and discover how refreshing the experience can be.
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