Posts Tagged ‘tools’

Best Free Anti-Virus & Anti-Spyware Solutions

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

AntiVirus & AntiSpyware ProtectionI get asked all the time from friends, family and even clients, “whats the best anti-virus program?”. Before the person asks however, they usually already have a problem. Therefore, this post will serve as a place to refer them when they need to prevent and/or remove pesky viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, or other malware. I’ll update this post as needed – as I change my recommended software preferences.

If you know of any (preferably free) solutions that should be included on this list, or you disagree with any of my selections, let me know in comments below.

If You Already Suspect a Problem Exists…

If you think you have an infected computer, the first thing you should do is run your current AV or AS program, even if it is not up-to-date. If you do not have anything installed, or if it doesn’t work, then try an online scanner. Always run an online scan prior to installing any of the software below, as many threats can hide from newly installed scanning programs. Note you should also disable Windows System Restore and run your anti-virus program again in “Safe Mode”.


Anti-Virus – Real Time Protection

A single real-time anti-virus application is a necessity on any PC that connects to the internet.

Microsoft Security EssentialsMicrosoft Security Essentials

Provides real-time protection from threats like viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. The free program is easy to use, keeps itself up-to-date and runs quietly and efficiently in the background—without interruptions or long computer wait times. Highly rated.

Alternative: AVG Free


Anti-Spyware / Anti-Malware

Unlike most anti-virus applications, the following programs can be run on the same machine, and are not usually run in real-time. I tend to use several of these while cleaning a system.

Malwarebytes' Anti-MalwareMalwarebytes’ Anti-Malware

An easy-to-use, simple, and effective anti-malware application designed to quickly detect, destroy, and prevent malware – such as viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits, dialers and spyware.

SuperAntiSpywareSuperAntiSpyware

Freeware program that detects and removes spyware, adware, malware, and many other types of threats. Also it is light on system resources so it will not slow down your computer.

Spybot Search & DestroySpybot – Search & Destroy

Detects and removes spyware. Spybot-S&D is free, so there’s no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.

Ad-Aware FreeAd-Aware Free

Features real-time protection, a rootkit removal system, e-mail scanning, automatic updates, and much more – and it won’t slow your computer down.


Online Scanner

Note an online scanner should not be considered a substitute for a real-time detection virus or malware scanner.

Trend Micro HouseCallTrend Micro HouseCall

A highly popular and capable on-demand scanner for identifying and removing viruses, Trojans, worms, unwanted browser plugins, and other malware. It performs fast scans that target critical system areas and active malware.

Alternative: BitDefender


Prevention…

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth A Pound of Cure.

SpywareBlaster

Prevents the installation of spyware and other potentially unwanted software, blocks spying / tracking cookies, and restricts the actions of potentially unwanted or dangerous web sites.

Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI)

A security tool designed to detect vulnerable and out-dated programs which expose your PC to attacks. PSI alerts you when your programs and plug-ins require updating to stay secure.


Other Tools & Utilities

CCleanerCCleaner

A fast freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system, frees up hard disk space, and contains a fully featured registry cleaner.

HiJackThisHiJackThis

For advanced users only! Generates reports of registry and file settings, but it does not determine what is good or bad. Results give you the ability to selectively remove items from your machine. Also comes with several tools useful in manually removing malware from a computer.

AVG Rescue CD

The AVG Rescue CD is a powerful must-have toolkit for the rescue and repair of infected machines.

ComboFix

Scans for known malware, and when found, attempts to clean infections automatically. In addition to being able to remove a large amount of the most common and current malware, ComboFix also displays a report that can be used to remove malware that is not automatically removed by the program.

Posted in General. ⋅ Tags: anti-malware, anti-spyware, anti-virus, security, tools

Top 10 Free Online Website Design Tools

Monday, September 10th, 2007

The following is a list of my top 10 favorite online website design tools. Best of all, they are all free services. Let me know if I’m missing something special here.

Note: I intentionally left-out validation and testing type services. They will be covered in another post later.

  • Em Calculator
    Converts pixels to ems. Great for converting fonts from px to ems without reducing the base font size to 62.5%.
  • Lorem Ipsum Generator
    Generate paragraphs of classical Latin literature from 45 for use as “dummy text” for your mock-ups and layouts.
  • The Hivelogic Enkoder
    The Enkoder helps protect email addresses by converting them into encrypted JavaScript code, hiding them from email-harvesting robots while revealing them to people.
  • Kuler
    Color inspiration from Adobe Labs. Quickly find, create or share harmonious color themes online, then download the colors as swatches to be used in PhotoShop.
  • XML Sitemap Generator
    A fast and easy to use online sitemap generator that creates not only an XML sitemap (to be submitted to Google), but also a sitemap in text format (to be submited to Yahoo!).
  • FavIcon Generator
    Easily create a favicon (favorites icon) form most image formats. A favicon is a small, 16×16 image that is shown inside the browser’s location bar and bookmark menu and is a good way to brand your site and increase it’s prominence in your visitor’s bookmark menu. This generator by Dynamic Drive even supports transparency when using a gif or png.
  • hCard Creator
    A simple form from Microformats.org to create hCards. hCards are a type of vCard in semantic XHTML that enables applications to retrieve its information directly from web pages without having to reference a separate file.
  • StatCounter
    A reliable, invisible and highly configurable hit counter that offers tons of real-time detailed web stats. Through your own profile, manage all the sites you create and setup profiles/permissions so your clients so they can analyze and monitor their own stats too. I find this to be even more informative then Google Analytics!
  • IconFinder
    A search engine that queries icons to use on your website with “Creative Commons” or similar type licenses. Not sure if this constitutes as a tool but it sure is a handy time saver.
  • TypeTester
    A tool for selecting type primarily for screen as PhotoShop mockups are rendered somewhat different when you slice your PSD into a HTML/CSS layout. TypeTester enables you to see how type will look in its’ natural environment – a web browser.

Posted in Website Design. ⋅ Tags: tools, Website Design

Free Trial of Microsoft Expression Web Designer

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006

Microsoft has launched a free trial of its new Expression Web Designer (Community Technology Preview 1) WYSIWYG editor. MS claims it is a “professional design tool” to create modern standards-based websites with CSS-based layouts, CSS formatting and management.

If the above holds true, it could be a worthy competitor to Adobe’s Dreamweaver and Golive.

Download at Microsoft Expression Web Designer – Free Trial.

Posted in Website Design. ⋅ Tags: tools

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About this Blog…

Hello, welcome to the “company” blog. Owned and operated by Matthew Ginop, MCGWD is a small website design company located in northern lower Michigan. I provide affordable sites using web standards and semantic markup.

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