Mel,

This thread is a good example of probably the two most common problems I hear related to internet + computer use: speed and security. Speed can be affected by many things but for purposes of this thread, your computer is increasingly likely to slow down the more time you spend on the computer. This is due to cache size, temp files, etc. If you spend a lot of time surfing combined with downloading programs, plug-ins, etc., this will be especially true.

So maybe one way of looking at whether you are a "heavy" or "light" computer user is by looking at your activities, as opposed to just counting the time spent. That is, a "heavy" user is one who does the downloading and installing of programs and all that jazz. And a "light" user is one who tends to use email and visit a more limited number of sites, usually the sames ones repeatedly.

This distinction is very important when it comes to the "other" computer problem - security. Any regular web surfer needs to determine how many levels and what kinds of security checks to use. A light user should be adequately prepared with 3 layers at most: hardware and/or software firewall, antivirus, and a trojan blocker or perhaps just a scanner.

Brian's recommendation of Spybot and AdAware are for that third level. When I last used them, they were scanners - in other words, designed to scan your computer for malware, trojans, and so forth that has already been surreptitiously installed. I really think this is adequate for the vast majority of light users. If you want more protection, then you would install a blocker, a program which keeps vigil for the bad stuff and prevents it from entering in the first place.

The drawbacks of increasing the levels and the complexity on any given level - such as using blockers instead of scanners - is that they can be difficult to configure properly and unless you want to spend a significant sum of money, they will take up more memory and thus affect speed.

One recommendation to consider: a great program that can really help bump up your speed if you have been experiencing unexplained slowdowns. And it can also remove some security threats. It is called Startup Control Panel. It installs into Control Panel (Windows only). It displays all the programs and processes that are scheduled to start when Windows boots. It should come as no surprise that all commercially sold computers install a lot of junk that end up slowing your machine down. And by using the program periodically, you can eliminate all the other stuff that gets installed that shouldn't be running at startup.

It can be downloaded at most any good internet utility site. But I would recommend going directly to the author's web site:

Startup Control Panel

rfinney

wow, you certainly do know your stuff.

From reading what you wrote, I am a light computer user. I only do email and surf the net, I never download stuff. maybe an occasional itunes thing.

Now about the spyware and firewalls.

I have Internet Security Suite (from Verizon). It's supposed to do EVERYTHING. That is, anti-virus, pop up, anti-spyware, etc. etc.

If I have this already doing that on my computer, why do I need spybot?

thanks so much for being so informative

Mel

I am not personally familiar with the Verizon product. But I can tell you this much - any product that tries to be and do everything can't possibly do all of them expertly - most such packages don't even do one level expertly.

However, given your computer use, it is likely that you do not need any level to be done that deeply. Thus, while the Verizon product may not be so great, looking at it its thoroughness, it is likely adequate for your particular situation.

There are a number of other things to consider when choosing security options. I have already mentioned resource usage - which is essentially memory. Trying to cover all possible levels and cover each of those levels thoroughly is going to result in too many programs that hog too much memory. The Verizon suite may have relatively high memory usage for one product (maybe not, but I would be surprised) - but since it covers so much of your security needs, then it might actually be a bargain in terms of memory.

And there are other factors yet to consider. Ease of use and configuration are often very overlooked. You can have a great security thing installed, but if you do not know how to use it and configure it properly, it is a waste. So it is important to install a product that is going to be relatively easy to setup and use. It should either have a couple of interfaces, such as simple and advanced, or else it should be easy to understand how to use it at your own current level of knowledge, or perhaps slightly ahead if you are willing to invest some learning time.

I assume you are using Verizon as your broadband provider. So also using their security suite could help in that you should have tech support available to you. Verizon is supposed to have better support available than most of the other folks - don't know myself - but that could be an advantage. Given your skills as a communicator, I think you could easily find yourself a skilled Verizon techie and have them help you configure your suite for best use.

Oh - I almost forgot - about Sbybot. One of the great things about it, is that it is a scanner. It is not installed on your system so you just have it check your system every so often. Then you can get rid of potentially harmful stuff as well as help prevent slowdown. I think almost all users should use this or something similar - it will definitely find things that the basic security suites and programs miss. It is designed to do a more thorough check and analysis. Really just a good, easy way to keep things running better and avoid nasty future surprises.

Surfing habits have a lot to do with security needs. In other words, if you are a user who travels around the net quite a bit and downloads music, movies, and whatever from where ever, then you your security needs are quite high.

But even if you spend a lot of time on the computer, but you are visiting safe sites (like this one) - then you are just not at that high of risk. This is especially true in terms of picking up a virus. So it makes sense to concentrate a little more on the other threats. And that is exactly what Spybot does.

Finally, here are a few well-regarded test sites. You can use them, if you are so inclined, to check antivirus, email, popups, and the some other stuff:

GFI Email Security Testing Zone
Shields UP!
PC Pitstop
Popup Check

rfinney

Now i am confused HELP stopping any programs from starting up is only to improve the actual bootup time, it has completely nothing to do with using bandwidth[ power of internet connection]
its normaly done by press start/ click run/ type " msconfig ", click the startup tab and there you have it.

If you decide to use that program be very carefull which programs you uncheck in the little box, you must leave your security running and if you don't understand what anything is, don't touch it, its best left alone, and normally used only by experienced hands.

A lot of people seem to have lots of icons [screen candy] they call it, all over their desktop, they don't realize that it uses up precious bandwidth, it actually slows your internet down, 2 or 3 ok but some people go mad with them and wonder why their net is slow.

A real noticable slowing down of the net is normally a trojan, virus etc, but running those 3 i mentioned will do the trick, a good fire wall like Zone alarm its free, and very good, i would download spyblaster as well which is another freebie and does a great job of stopping stuff getting into your works, run your antivirus programs [ like Adaware/spybot, AVG] regularly twice a week, use systems tools like defrag and error checking every few weeks , run an online anti virus like trendmicro once a week and you should be right.
I would class a person that only gets on the net for an hour or so after work every now and again,and probably connected up with that awfull dialup , a light user, anything above that using broadband downloading megabytes is not usaly classed as a light user, just ask your provider for a light internet users deal, i don't think you will be getting 3 or 4 hours a day of broadband.
Maintaince is the key to smooth running PC's.

for the information about desktop icons slowing down the computer. I didn't know that - duh! Immediately used the wizard to get some of mine off the desktop.

Shirley H.

Okay!!!! I have about 50 desktop icons. I use maybe 10 out of the 50. What the heck do I do with the ones I don't use?? Do I just right click and hit delete. What happens to them after that?

I DO use Verizon DSL. So I pay $4.95 a month for the Verizon Internet Security Suite and don't have to worry about anything. It catches potential viruses. (the only reason I started this thread is because Alan, when prompted, ALLOWED the download). He knows better now.
I don't get any pop ups. It finds cookies and deletes them. All in all, I'm happy with it. I used to have a symantec thing but I didn't like it. I also had something from Norton Utilities but honestly, now that I have verizon dsl and verison security suite, I'm good with that!!!

BUT!!! and here's a good question for ya!!!
I use Outlook Express as my mail thing. NOT VERIZON.
So far so good. I usually get ALL my e-mails.
But sometimes, Verizon doesn't let an e-mail go through and treats it like spam. How can I find an e-mail if for example, my bank sent it to me and I never got it. There is no spam folder in my Outlook Express thing.
Anybody know the answer???

Thanks,
Mel

Brian - not correct at all. Stopping all those unnecessary programs from loading does much more than speed up your boot time. First off, they consume memory and thus can affect your overall computer processing. And internet speed, while certainly affected more by the speed of your internet connection, is also affected by overall processing power.

More importantly, most of those programs in fact do use bandwidth. They are designed to open and close internet connections. Some of them may be open quite awhile and/or check for updates and the like quite frequently. Also, some of these processes are very misbehaved and thus may not close properly or at all. They can also malfunction in other ways. Do you ever have unexplained computer blips? Thought so - one of the very first things that any competent tech support person will have you try is to disable ALL startups and see what happens. Takes care of the problem quite often.

And finally - it could also be that one of those itty bitty programs is a trojan that has been missed by whatever security you use.

I do agree that you should be conservative about deleting startups, however there are a couple of sites that provide very helpful information about almost any of these things. With just a little bit of effort, most novices can begin trimming in no time. And "msconfig" is most definitely not the place to do this. I won't bother going into all the reasons, but just use the tool I recommend or something similar.

Also, it is not correct that your desktop icons do not affect your internet connection. Having a lot of them may slow your boot time a bit - but that is all. It really makes no sense to move them, except if your desktop is cluttered.

You may be getting confused between those icons and the processes they represent. The icons do NOT show what programs are running. They represent a segment of your installed programs (not all installed programs put an icon on the desktop). Installed programs have nothing at all to due with running programs.

In fact, it is the program to which I referred, or "msconfig," that will give you a much better picture of what is running. Even those programs do not give the whole picture - as they just show the programs and processes that are set to launch at boot up. You actually have to call up the Windows Task Manager to see EVERY thing that is running on your computer at any given time.

Mel - Normally a broadband provider will provide all their subscribers with a homepage area. You should go there and log in. There will be an area with all of your emails - this is actually the place where all of your emails can be seen before they are downloaded to your computer and put into Outlook Express.

They should have a folder on the email page that has all the emails they have marked as spam. You can view them, delete them, unmark them so they are not spam, etc. There are probably some defaults you can change - for instance, how long they are kept before they are automatically deleted.

rfinney

Mel, sounds like you are very happy with your own antivirus program so there is no reason for change.
The icons to the programs that you definatly don't want to use ever again, just go to " Control Panel/ Click on " add remove programs "/ run down the list and then select the ones who want to uninstal, then simply uninstall them, you may have to reboot after each program that you have uninstalled, but if so you will be prompted to do so thats if you have to, the ones that are not in that list, yes. delete them straight from the desktop into your recycle bin and then empty your bin.

For the ones you do want to keep [this is what i have done with mine], you may like to do this, right click on the desktop, run down to " New " then move over to " folder and click on it, a new folder will be created on your desktop, then go to the icons your want to keep, left click on one whist leaving the mouse button down and drag it over to the new folder that you just created then when it goes a blue colour, let go of of the mouse button and it will go into that folder, then do the same for all the rest, except the main ones you use very often, like any Internet browser icon etc.
Some say to just drag them over to the start button and they will come up in the first row of programs, but i don't recommend it, as i have come accross some problems doing it that way.

Once you have cleaned up all the screen candy, then right click on that new folder run down to " Send to " move accross then run down to " My Documents " then left click on it, you have done it, you have sent all of those icons to a folder in" My Documents ". next i normaly check to make sure they are in there, then go back to your desktop and left click on that new folder thats still on your desktop and drag it into the " Recycle Bin " then empty your recycle bin.

Now, to get to them when you want to use them, just go to "my documents" find that new folder [ you can name it anything you like] double click on it that will open it up and use the programs from there, you should notice your pc more responsive when using the net because you have given back more bandwidth to use on the net.

Outlook express is only a program that you need to be able to send and recieve emails, your antiviris program Verizon is configured in Outlook Express to look out for any crap that is trying to get through, if it does find something its doing its job properly, any genuine emails will be scanned just like any other emails are, if its clean you will have access to it, if its not, its not going to let you open it up and infect your machine, seeing thats the whole idea of having protection like Verizon.
General rule with emails is, if you don't know who they are don't open it.

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Rfinnery – I do agree with you that programs using up memory do have an impact on internet speed, however I can’t see how other programs other than our antivirus, firewall type programs are active searching for most recent updates whilst we are using the net, Adaware is a good example of this being so, as you would be aware that we are prompted to allow access for them and I always configure for them to search for updates without prompting me for permission to do so.

The only time that I do notice any strain of power when using the net, is only when I call upon another program to startup like Nero, to do some recoding for me and at the same time I might even have an antivirus program running as well, other than those circumstances I don’t have any loss of internet strength and that’s without disabling programs as you mentioned earlier.

If you really think it doesn’t make any sense cleaning your desktop, then why does Microsoft by default in XP os, prompt us to clean up any unused icons ?
Here is a site that gives a few simple tips to speed up our PC’s. were useless icons are mentioned .
http://familyinternet.about.com/od/t...upcomputer.htm
Also just simply lowering your graphic settings down to say 16 bits, is another way to slightly improve performance , so I really can’t understand your reasoning about desktop not being an issue as far as performance goes., I think you would agree that anything that has to do with using memory will definatly affect the systems performance..

I am really not confused either about icons and and the processes they represent, its very simple to right click the task bar and bring up the task manager to see what processers are running, not only can I see exactly how much percent the CPU is using, also from there I can see how much physical Memory there is and keep an eye on the system cache as well.and more as you would probably know..
This thread has turned out a thread that would be very typical of a computer forum not a PN forum, but one thing leads to another that’s they way it goes, if every one thought the same it would be a boring old world
we live in
Take care
Brian

Brian,

I agree that using Windows Desktop Cleanup can be useful. However, it will not affect bandwidth in any way whatsoever. It will improve overall computer processing which can help with all computer activities, including web surfing.

Also, I was responding to the recommendation to just move desktop icons. This is much less effective in terms of cleanup that is designed to improve performance. Using Windows Desktop Cleanup is not only more effective but safer. Just moving those icons will often result in error messages with the next boot, because now Windows does not know where they were moved to and will prompt the user for action.

And again, doing any sort of desktop cleanup is going to have a very, very minimal impact on internet efficiency. It should be done for other reasons, such as clutter, boot time slowdown, and overall improved efficiency (which can help with web performance, but really only a little).

The fact is that the startup programs you want to leave alone, do in fact affect bandwidth. However, depending on how many are installed and many other factors, the amount of bandwidth can be quite minimal or more substantial.

But it is desirable to monitor these processes as the real issue is that they are often installed surreptitiously as malware. They can and often do cause unexpected problems, slowdown computer and internet performance, and so forth. What do you think AdAware is doing? One of its main functions is to look at those programs and decide which ones truly don't belong.

rfinney