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From TB Computing

Here are some software tools that I use. I am not associated with any of the companies that provide these tools; I don't sell them or get any sort of commission. This list does not cover all of the tools that are available (in part because there are far too many for me to try them all). This just reflects my own experience.

If you would like to comment, or add your own suggestions, please use the " discussions" page.

Protecting your computer

Kaspersky Internet Security

Antivirus, antispyware, and firewall programs are important to help keep your computer safe. Because the threats that our computers face are always evolving, our protection software must keep up. That is why most commercial products require a subscription. Even the free products require frequent updates to remain effective, and some of the free products require you to manually perform the updates.

While many of the free products do an adequate job for most people, I have found that the commercial products tend to be more complete and do a better job of preventing, and especially removing, infections. The subscription fees fund software development and research to fight the latest threats, so paid products tend to be and able to fight new attacks before the free ones can. Plus paid products have more features, such as automatic updates and scans.

The product that I prefer is Kaspersky Internet Security. They have an antivirus-only product, but the complete product doesn't cost much more than the antivirus program, so I believe that it is well worth the difference. There are other good products available, but this is the one that I have had the best overall results, and the least problems, with.

OpenDNS

DNS (Domain Name Service) is the service that translates a name like "www.somesite.com", which is easy for people to remember, to an address like "192.168.100.52", which is what he Internet understands. This is usually provided by your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Your ISP's DNS servers do not normally filter the addresses that you are provided. This is usually what you want (you don't want to be suddenly cut off from your favorite web site, after all). But the bad guys can use this service too. They can put links to their web sites in emails or on other web sites, and try to infect your computer when you visit an infected site or read an infected email. If you get an infection, it can "phone home" to download more malware. These types of attacks usually (but not always) have the human-friendly "www.somesite.com" type of address.

That is where OpenDNS comes in. You instruct your router or computer to use the OpenDNS servers instead of the ones that your ISP provides. OpenDNS users categorize sites - for instance, as malware, adware, or shopping - and you can have OpenDNS block the types of sites that you don't want to allow on your network. There is nothing to install on your computer. You need to create an account to get the most from this service, and there are both free and paid accounts, depending on your needs.

Web Of Trust

This is another user-supported service. It installs as an add-on to your Internet browser - Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome. Visit the My Web Of Trust web site to download the plugin(s) for the browser(s) that you use. You should create a (free) account so that your preferences can be used across browsers, and you can rate sites.

Web Of Trust rates sites by safety - malware, child safety, shopping safety, etc. If you attempt to visit a site that has a very poor rating, you will get a screen warning you of the low rating. You can back out, view the reasons for the poor rating, or opt to visit the site anyway. You will also see a new icon next to links on web pages, color coded for the overall rating: from green (safe) to red (unsafe).

Remember that you will have to install this on every browser on every computer that you use.