Southern New Jersey Overlook

You may be more vulnerable than you think.

At home or at your business, we rely heavily on computers for communications, news, information, applications and just for enjoyment.  For such a critical item in our lives, we need to make sure that our computers and their networks are as secure as possible, at all times.  Here are some basic areas for you to consider, along with some corresponding technology solution providers to save you time, that we are providing as part of our full service commitment to you. 

If you are in the process of buying or selling property and/or moving to new locations, that is an especially good time to  take stock and evaluate the vulnerability of your computer systems -- so you can avoid surprises in your new surroundings.  (If your situation requires more extensive technical support, we can put you in touch with competent service providers local to you, just contact us.)

According to most advisers that we have come across, and which so far has been verified by personal experience, there are at least 5 required measures or elements that need to be implemented in order to effectively minimize vulnerability for any of your computer(s) that access(es) the Internet or are part of a network:

1. Hardware Firewall, such as those offered by Linksys (a division of Cisco Systems), Belkin, D-Link, etc.

2. Software Firewall, the current best being Zonealarm (a free, but limited featured, version is available), Zonealarm Pro (full featured software firewall), Zonealarm Security Suite(firewall, antivirus and antispam filter all-in-one). [Zonealarm is owned by Check Point Software, with US headquarters in California and main headquarters in Ramat-Gan, Israel.]

3. AntiVirus Program, pick-one: Trend Micro's PC-cillin (headquartered in Tokyo), Symantec AntiVirus  (headquartered in California), McAfee VirusScan (headquartered in California), Panda Anti-Virus (headquartered in Bilboa, Spain), Kaspersky Anti-Virus (headquartered in Moscow), GriSoft AVG Anti-Virus (headquartered in the Czech Republic, with USA headquarters in NJ).

4. AntiSpam Program, depending on your email program (for example: Outlook, Outlook Express or Eudora): Cloudmark SafetyBar(headquartered in California) for use with Outlook and Outlook Express. If you use Eudora(by Qualcomm, headquartered in California) for your email program, it comes with a very effective built-in email spam program and which can also by used, for increased protection, with a free anti-spam add-in: SpamPal(additional plug-ins available, also works with Outlook and Outlook Express). SpamPal provides anti-spam protection, maintains whitelist and blacklist, etc.

5. AntiSpyware Program, pick one or more: Sunbelt Software CounterSpy (main headquarters in France), Microsoft Windows Defender (beta version, currently free). Also, Ad-Aware (free version available), SpyBot Search & Destroy (free, but donations appreciated) along with Spyware Blaster(free). [Suggest having several of these and running them frequently. Make sure that you have SpyBot S&D's Resident protection feature turned on (accessed via "Tools" option).]

 
Note: Before going out and paying for any of these that aren't free, make sure you check with your Internet service provider as many include security software as part of their basic service, for no additional cost.  For example, Comcast includes the McAfee Suite of AntiVirus, Personal Firewall Plus, Privacy Service and SpamKiller as part of it's basic broadband cable service.

 

Visit my web site for additional resources and services: LawrenceYerkes.com

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