The Problem

One of the most important and often overlooked functions that computer users should perform on a regular basis is Microsoft Window’s Disk Defragmenter. Imagine that you work in an office with a large filing cabinet and each time you pull out a file, instead of filing it away when you’ve finished, you throw it across the room! Naturally, next time you need the file, it takes ages to locate it! That’s exactly what Microsoft Windows does with your computer files. Over time, it slowly fragments your files, storing parts of each file in random physical locations spread out across your hard drive. As a result, your files will take longer and longer to access. The solution is to defrag your hard drive.

Putting it back together

Defragmenting the hard drive will keep your hard drive running efficiently. It speeds up your computer and should be done at least once a month to keep the computer working at maximum efficiency. It works by rearranging the files so that each file is stored in a contiguous collection of disk sectors on your hard drive. This makes reading and writing files much faster.

Defragmenting your drive is not difficult. Simply select Start => All Programs => Assessories => System Tools => Disk Defragmentor and then select the disk you want to defrag which most likely will be the “C” drive.

The Disk Defragmenter displays two options, Analyze and Defragment. Analyze will tell you if you need to defrag the hard drive, but if you haven’t done it for a while then it’s probably time to do so.

Once you start the process, it’s best to leave the computer alone. Defragging your drive uses up a lot of system resources and will slow the computer down. Although the defrag process can be paused or stopped, it’s advised not to. it can take up to a few hours or more depending on the size of the drive and how much information is stored on it.

No, it’s not a spelling mistake and it’s got nothing to do with Bing Crosby! Phishing happens when criminals (Phishers) attempt to fraudulently steal sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers from your computer. Although I prefer to concentrate on the positive things that computers and the internet bring, sometimes it’s important to discuss the negatives so we can best protect ourselves in the future.

How do they reel you in?
With the advent of the internet, more and more of us are managing our finances and purchasing items online. Unfortunatley, this creates more opportunities for fraud. Phishers send bogus emails which look like they’re from a real bank or online store such as Amazon.co.uk that request you to login to your account. The scam works by redirecting you to a bogus website that looks virtually identical to your bank or online store where your username and password can be stolen. The criminal subsequently uses the stolen usernames and passwords to access accounts fraudulently.

How can you protect yourself?
It’s simple. If you receive an email asking you to login to an online bank or store account, just delete it. Banks and online stores will NEVER ask you for usernames or passwords.

Phishing Part 2: The Download Scam
A lesser form of Phishing is where internet users receive a message, usually in a popup window, informing them that there is an ‘infection’ on their system and that they need to to download and pay for program to clean up the problem. My advice here is to ignore the message unless you know it’s from a well-known and reputable company. By running antivirus and anti-spyware programs on a regular basis, your system should be free from infections anyway. Anti-spyware program, Spybot - Search & Destroy, is particularly good at preventing this problem. See my article Get Free Computer Protection Now! for more details.

I hope this post helps you avoid these types of scams in the future. As always, please contact me if you have any questions.

Jon

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what is necessary to adequately protect your computer from the gremlins of the internet so I thought it would be a good idea to outline the 3 main methods we should all implement to make our computers safer from attack. Namely antivirus, PC firewall and anti-spyware software.

Make no mistake, there are literally thousands of menaces out there designed to make your life a misery. What motivates somebody to create a virus that wreaks havoc on computer networks is anyone’s guess but I want to concentrate on how we can safeguard our systems. And don’t worry about costly software because all my recommendations are free.

Antivirus Software To protect yourself from the majority of threats, it’s absolutely imperative that your system has antivirus software installed and running at all times. If you suspect your system is infected, you should perform a full system scan immediately. The longer you put it off, the more damage can occur. If your system takes longer to boot up, longer to open programs, displays unexpected pop-ups and generally performs sluggishly, chances are you have a virus or spyware infection. One of the most popular antivirus programs is AVG Anti-Virus Free which can be downloaded at:

http://free.grisoft.com/softw/70free/setup/avg75free_432a861.exe.

PC Firewall Connecting to the Internet is a two way exercise. While you visit your favourite sites, hackers can visit your computer. Hackers want to steal your personal data, such as bank account numbers and passwords. They also want to hijack you computer to launch attacks on other computers, even on entire networks. All this can be done without your knowledge.
You can prevent hacker attacks by installing a PC firewall. This will stop unauthorised access your computer and at the same time allows your computer complete, unrestricted access to the Internet. Although antivirus software protects you from known viruses and can help clean up after a virus attack, a PC firewall is needed to block unauthorised access to your computer and protect against malicious software and Internet threats. One of the most popular PC Firewall programs avaliable is ZoneAlarm which can be downloaded at

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp.

Anti-Spyware Many people underestimate the harm that spyware can do to their computer. Spyware has surpassed viruses as the #1 threat to identity theft. Spyware sometimes referred to as Malware performs a range of behaviours such as advertising, collecting personal information, or changing the configuration of your computer. Symptoms include pop-up adverts when you are not online, your browsers home page changing, unwanted toolbars appearing on your browser, a general slowdown in performance and sudden increase in erratic system crashes. Spyware can be introduced to your system when installing new programs or via Phishing. Phishing is when a fraudulent email encourages you to supply personal information such as credit card numbers or usernames for bank accounts. There are a few popular Anti-spyware programs available.

Spybot-Search & Destroy can be downloaded at:

http://www.safer-networking.org

Microsoft Windows Defender can be downloaded at:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

LavaSoft’s Ad-Aware can be downloaded at:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/.

In closing, I cannot stress more the importance of installing antivirus, PC firewall and anti-spyware software on your system. I hope this post gives you enough information to protect your system from harm. As always, please contact me if you have any questions.

Jon