Mr. Fix-It Computer Services

Recommended Tools & Sites

Recommended Tools & Sites (all free or open-source):

The "Holy Trinity" of security software for Windows includes, at a minimum, an anti-virus program, an anti-spyware program, and a firewall. If your computer is on any type of network, you need a hardware firewall, which is usually built into a router, as well as an inbound-outbound software firewall. EVERYONE who accesses the Internet, however briefly, and even just to check email,needs a software firewall. Idealy, you should also have a patch-management tool or system to help you remain current with the latest security updates. This could be as simple as manually checking the Microsoft Updates website weekly.

Here are a few recommendations for these and other categories, including replacing Windows entirely with Linux.

SECURITY TOOLS

Anti-virus:

• AVG Free
• Avast!

Spyware/Adware removal:

• Lavasoft Ad-Aware (the freeware version is not memory-resident)
• Spybot Search & Destroy (the freeware version is not memory-resident)

Firewall:

• ZoneAlarm
• Comodo Personal Firewall
• Jetico Personal Firewall ver. 1.0 Freeware

Patch Management:

• Secunia Software Inspector (free web service)
• The Software Patch: www.softwarepatch.com (free web service)
• Windows Updates Downloader (WUD): http://wud.jcarle.com/
• Offline Update: www.heise.de/ct/projekte/offlineupdate/download_uk.shtml

OTHER TOOLS

Web Browser:

• Mozilla Firefox

Email:

• Mozilla Thunderbird

Instant Messaging:

• Pidgin: www.pidgin.im/
• Trillian

Office Suite:

• OpenOffice

Word Processor only:

• AbiWord

Text Editor:

• PSPad: www.pspad.com

Tweaking:

• PC Pitstop: www.pcpitstop.com (free web service)
• Black Viper: www.blackviper.com (free web advice)

OS:

• Ubuntu
• PCLinuxOS
• Freespire
• Puppy Linux

more to come...