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Without spending any money at
all, I have closed down the file and printer sharing on my computer to exposure from the Internet and for about
$20, I have implemented the best in AntiVirus protection with Norton AV 2000, can I rest now? Hmmm… well…. Another
thing I might do though is go into Internet Options for the Internet Explorer, and set my security to high (the
default is medium), which will take care of those cookie concerns Tim talked about. If I want to really tighten
it down, I can go into Custom and disable everything which will make my surfing really secure. Doing that will
result in more than a few sites on the Internet that will not display properly or might out-rightly will reject
my attempt to access that site but is okay. Sort of like my callerID at home, if it shows "Unavailable"
I don't answer the phone. If I don't know what a web site wants to do to my computer, I don't want to go there
anyway. And if I want to make sure that any financial transactions I make over the net, I would be sure to use
a 128 bit encryption client to provide the optimal protection for my personal information. Continuing with "Internet
Options," you will also see a "Content" tab where Internet Explore does have the ability to filter
content such as nudity, etc., and you can use other services which provide filter lists that either block or allow
content so there are some parental controls there as well. I recommend that you take some time to explore the Internet
Options area (shown to the left) as there are a lot of things you can do there to move your Internet experience
into your own comfort zone and all without spending a dime, just some time. Netscape has some similar features
but not as rich as found in Internet Explorer 5.
Now, for few dollars more, Symatec has
a product called Internet SecurityTM 2000. This is an all in one product that includes Norton AntiVirus2000, a
personal firewall that shields your computer from hackers and prying eyes on the Internet, an Ad blocker function
that eliminates many of those obnoxious banner ads and pop up windows that eat up time while you wait for a site
to display, a security function that blocks cookies and applets of both the Java and ActiveX variety that may do
things on and to your computer without your knowledge, protect your personal information plus parental control
over what you children might do or go on the Internet. One of the strengths of this product is that it is complete
solution, or security "suite," that is managed from a single control panel. You can go out on the Internet
and find various free or shareware utilities (which you may pay for in more ways than one) that will do all the
things this product will do but you will have to individually configure them. They won't "talk" to each
other, and you may end up with multiple "filters" between you and the Internet that will both slow your
access to the Internet and impact the performance of your computer. Even running Internet SecurityTM 2000 will
have a performance impact on your computer because it is running in the background and using computer resources,
keeping a secure eye on what is going across your Internet connection. Running AntiVirus 2000, by itself, will
impact system performance. I have seen some AntiVirus programs turn screaming (er, fast) computers into absolute
dogs (those programs will remain nameless due to "conditions of use" restrictions the vendor has put
on their product preventing anyone from saying anything bad, I wonder why?)
For more information on Internet SecurityTM 2000, pick up the box the next time you are at your favorite software store or visit Symantec.
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