Internet

Security

Internet Security - Keep your computer safe when accessing the internet. Specific instructions and links make security easier to understand and accomplish.

What is waiting to install when your computer shuts down? - Some installations require rebooting your computer to take effect. Windows will notify you at shutdown and give you the option of not installing them. But what if you don't remember installing anything and want to know what they are before completing the installation? Here are two resources for determining if they are Windows updates, but I haven't yet found a way to determine non-Microsoft updates:

• In Windows Explorer, enter "%windir%\SoftwareDistribution\ReportingEvents.log" in the address box at the top. The text file ReportingEvents.log will open. Go to the bottom of the document by typing ctrl-end. Search up for "downloaded and ready". If "Windows successfully installed the following update" does not appear after this point (for each update listed), then these updates have not been installed.
• Click Start and Run and enter WindowsUpdate.log. The text file WindowsUpdate.log will open. See How to read the Windowsupdate.log file for more information about this log file.

Email

I reccommend using online email (often called webmail) rather than downloading email to your computer. Webmail has the following advantages:

• If you do not have your email on your computer, viruses and computer worms will never be able to gather email addresses from your address book or stored emails.
• Keeping your email online also means that you will be able to access it from any computer
• Scanning your computer for viruses will be fasterer with fewer files.

Yahoo offers free email with spam protection or pay a small yearly fee for ad free email. I have used Yahoo email for years and continue to reccommend them. Many internet providers use Yahoo for their email service. Other free email services are also available.

Browsers and Browser Addons

Better Browser

I reccommend Firefox for better functionality and better security than Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Firefox Extensions

If you are a web developer, the Web Developer and Firebug extensions to Firefox are indespensible.

See my article Fix Outdated Firefox Extensions in New Versions of Firefox for instructions for making some old extensions work after updating Firefox to a new version.

Google Toolbar

The Google Toolbar is available for Internet Explorer and is built into Chrome. It has many features to enhance your internet experience including: enhanced search, PageRank, Google Translate and much more.

The Google toolbar is no longer available or supported for Firefox, but if you already have it installed in Firefox it can be enabled by following the instructions at Fix Outdated Firefox Extensions in New Versions of Firefox.

Tools and Services

Camtasia - A popular video making software, especially useful for making a video of what you are doing on your computer.

Surfing the Web

Surf for reccommended sites in topics of your choice at Stumble Upon.