Last week I sent out an email about computer security. This week I’d like to follow that up with some additional information.
I received a lot of great feedback from the last email so I’m going to address some questions and comments that came in.
The first question that came up is, “How do I uninstall a program?”
Every version of Windows is slightly different, but you should be able to get to your programs list by going to the Start menu, then typing in “Add or Remove” in the search box – you should see the option “Add or Remove Programs” pop up. Click on this and you’ll be taken to a screen that shows every program that’s installed on your computer. If you have trouble finding this, just let me know and I’ll help out.
From this list, you can select individual programs and choose “Uninstall” to start the removal process. In most cases, this is a straight-forward process, but sometimes things can get fouled up and require you to get “Removal Tools”. If that happens, call me… but it probably won’t.
Remember: if you uninstall your antivirus software, you need to be ready to install new AV software immediately – so have that lined up. This is as simple as downloading the installation file from the antivirus company’s website and running it once your old AV software is removed.
And since you’re in the Programs List, this is a good time to remove anything that you know for sure is junk. Don’t go uninstalling programs willy-nilly, but if there’s stuff in there that you know for sure is bogus, get it out of there. This is how a lot of computers get bogged down – by the accumulation of unnecessary, resource-hogging software. Again, if in doubt, call me or shoot me an email.
The next point that was brought up in response to my last email is how important it is to stay away from potentially malicious software in the first place. It’s easy to be tempted by software that sound like it’ll do something useful. Examples are weather apps, internet browser add-ons, games, “system performance enhancers”, etc.
My advice is not to download ANY software unless you know you need it, AND you can be certain it’s safe.
Yeah – that’s tough. How can you be certain it’s safe? You can start by Googling it – try typing in something like “Is Weatherbug malware?” While you may not get a straight answer, if the search results include websites or forum posts griping about what a pain the software is, or something that says “technically, it’s not spyware BUT…”, it’s probably not something you want. Try that search – you’ll see what I mean. Remember, “free” programs usually have some cost – the question is, how “bad” is that cost?
If you’d like recommendations for specific types of software, just let me know – there IS lot’s of great software out there, but there’s FAR more junk that will end up costing you a lot of time and headache.
If in doubt, don’t download it.