Computer Security Alerts
- France, Germany warn against Internet Explorer
- China attacks a 'watershed moment'
- Haitian Earthquake Disaster Email Scams
- Adobe confirms PDF zero-day attacks
- Millions tricked by 'scareware'
- Web mail scam propagates itself
- Banking Trojan steals money from under your nose
- US urges 'cyber hygiene' effort
- Malicious Code Spreading via IRS Scam
- 'Scareware' scams trick searchers Previous Alerts
Computer Security, Troubleshooting & Optimization
A "one-stop" destination for information, products and services needed to keep your computer safe, optimized and properly updated.
Our Goals:- Raise Awareness Of Security Issues
- Help Respond To Virus, Spyware & Other Threats
- Recommend Practical Troubleshooting Steps
- Offer "Best Practices" To Avoid Problems
- Consolidate Useful Search Resources
- Provide Links To Other High Quality Sites & Services
With spyware (or more broadly, malware) infection at epidemic proportions and virus writers getting increasingly sophisticated, you cannot ignore security. These threats not only expose you to possible identity theft, data loss and credit card fraud, but often severely impact the performance of your computer. There is also the very real risk that your machine can be compromised and used by the attacker to send spam, store illegal files or attack other machines and networks. Be a good Internet citizen and secure your computer!
In addition to security, we can help with normal maintenance and troubleshooting, backing up your data (an absolutely critical habit for any computer user!), and the selection of the best software, services & hardware. Please see the menu at top left for more detailed information on these and other subjects.
Be sure to see our Best Practices page for a concise guide to what needs to be done immediately to protect yourself and others, and keep your computer running at it's full potential.
Although this site is heavily oriented towards Windows OS, this is more an acceptance of reality than an endorsement. It is widely accepted that Linux and Mac computers are more secure and troublefree, but with Windows having about 90% of the operating system market, it seems of more value to address issues that concern the largest number of people. Of course, we hope that some of the search options, alerts, ideas and tips may help users of alternative OS's too. And, we may gently nudge you in that direction as well.
Also, if you are in a larger organization or on a company computer or network, please consult your IT Department or Network Administrator before making any changes, using any services or installing any software mentioned on this site. The same applies if you are accessing a company network from home or a laptop computer. Failure to do so could result in security risks for you and your organization or inability to connect to the network.
(Some features of this website and others we link to may require JavaScript to be enabled in your web browser. Some of those linked sites and services, as well as Windows Update, will require you to access them in Internet Explorer, but we don't recommend it for normal use. There are much better and safer browsers available for free.)
Note: Items marked with 
require Acrobat or another pdf reader.
