Techno babel, decoded.

Just another thought on scams: DO NOT DOWNLOAD OR RUN ANYTHING FROM A POP-UP AD! Anything claiming to be antivirus 360 or antivirus 2009 in reality is probably a spyware program meant to harvest information from your computer and are in NO WAY legitimate . These ads are very sneaky, and masquerade as notifications from your existing virus scanning software. Believe me when I say that none of the programs I mentioned in the previous post will EVER have pop-up notifications that flash, blink, dance, or emit stupid music to get your attention. NONE. A warning in a simple dialogue box is ALL you will get from any program worth its salt. I know everyone is looking for a bargain these days, but do yourself a favor and simply ignore these pop-up advertisements. You'll thank yourself later, trust me.

Bonus points if you know which movie I'm referencing. ;) As an IT guy, people often ask me how to prevent problems from occurring with their PCs. Beyond my first answer, which is usually, "Buy a Mac," the best thing anyone can do to prevent computer problems is do everything you can to keep your machine virus-free. If you are reading this blog, it means you are on the internet, which also means you are exposing your machine to potential risks with every click of your mouse. I cannot stress this enough: If you're going to be online you MUST have a virus scanner. If you surf the web without one, there chances are your computer is already infected. There are a couple free virus scanners that are good and reliable, for your average computer user. Of course the ones you pay for are better but I am writing this for those on a budget. Note: I don't care what operating system you are using, virus scanners are still essential to network defense. Mac OS and Linux...