Software
For standard office automation Adams State uses Microsoft
Office (MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher (PC Only) and
Access (PC Only). The student computer labs use Microsoft
Office XP for the PCs and Microsoft Office 2004 for the Macs
If you regularly go back and forth between your computer and
the labs it will be easier if you have a copy on your machine.
If you use an older version of MS Office on your computer make
sure to save you document in the Lab in the older format so
it can be read when you get home. Some people have had luck
using other word processor software and saving the document
in a more compatible format like Microsoft Rich Text (RTF) as
they move between machines. RTF maintain most, but not all,
of the standard formatting, bold, underline etc.
One free office automation product that we have tested is Open
Office. It opens and saves in the Microsoft file formats.
And you can not beat the price free!
Anti-Virus Software
We suggest that you install anti-virus software on your personal
computer. Two companies lead the anti-virus market, Network
Associates and Symantec.
The both have products that support both Windows and Macintosh.
Network Associates sells Viruscan
for Windows machines and Virex for Macintosh machines and can
be bought on-line. Norton Anti-virus for Windows and Macintosh
can also be bought on-line from Symantec.
The Adams State Bookstore also sells the Norton Anti-virus for
Windows and Macintosh.
Virus software and virus definition updates
The most important part of anti-virus software is keeping it
up to date. New version of the program should be installed at
least every 6 months and the virus definition should updated
at least monthly. The virus definition files tell your anti-virus
software how to protect and remove viruses properly. Network
Associates and Symantec
products can be configured to do automatic updated via the Internet.
Personal Firewall Products
What is a firewall?
- A firewall gives you complete control over traffic to and
from your computer. The firewall stops unauthorized access from
intruders who want to access your computer.
- A good firewall also stops unauthorized traffic from your computer.
Some programs, so called Trojan Horses, can give an intruder
the possibility to run your computer from the inside. For this
reason it is important to have complete control over the total
flow of traffic your computer is involved in.
Why do I need a firewall?
An ordinary computer has sixty thousand ports through which
it can access the Internet. It uses these to process the flow
of information to and from the computer, Therefore it is very
vulnerable to attacks.
If you are sitting at home surfing via your own ISP connection
you have no corporate firewall behind which to shield yourself.
If you are hooked up through a broadband access you are even
more vulnerable since you are connected through the same IP-address
for longer stretches of time.
It is therefore important to protect your computer against
attacks. If you install a personal firewall you will definitely
surprised by the sheer amount of intrusion attempts.
The firewall built into Windows XP is fairly good. With the
installation of Service Pace 2 the firewall was improved. This
is a good place to start.
For those who would like a little more control, we recommend
ZoneAlarm as the best personal free fire wall. Over millions
have downloaded this program. It is easy to install and use.
Z.A. protects both your computer from intrusion as well as
your computer from accessing the Web without your permission.
The user interface is very user friendly and it is easy to
adjust the security level you desire.
Downloads this product at;
http://www.zonelabs.com
Additional firewalls
Tiny Personal Firewall 2.09
http://www.tinysoftware.com
Very good free personal firewall. Simple and functional. Constantly
updated with new versions. Voted "Popular Pick" at
download.com and constantly gets good reviews.
Sygate personal firewall 2.1
http://www.sybergen.com/free/spf_download.htm
Well worked thru free personal firewall giving you an adequate
level of protection. Recommended by many. Could be seen as a
wee bit too advanced by the normal user, as it is possible to
choose 5 different security levels. Some levels affect your
Internet connection.
Windows XP has an adequate built in Firewall. It is not enabled
by default.
Spyware
Spyware is designed to collect and use information about anyone
using the computer it is installed on. It watches what sites
you visit and where you shop on the Internet in order to create
a marketing profile. It is usually combined (called: bundled)
w/ another program that you have downloaded. Commonname.com
(CN) is considered a piece of spyware. It takes everything you
type while you are using the browser and sends it to their website
server.
Credit Card Info—For those who are concerned about internet
security, you should be aware that some spyware is sending everything
you type in the most easily readable form called: clear text!
Some spyware can even capture your credit card information and
that information gets stored on their server. If that isn’t
bad enough, anyone between your computer and them can also read
and capture your personal information.
Slow Performance—If you’re not concerned about
security, let’s talk about performance. If the web pages
you and a million other people are browsing has to go through
this one server (Commonname.com for example) , it may slow down
the performance of your PC. Installation—It can come from
the installation of several programs; the most popular are KaZaA,
and iMesh.
KaZaA and iMesh—Why do you think their programs are
free? It always comes back to money! CN will resell the information
it gets from you, to someone else. Here’s a short list
of other programs w/ spyware—KaZaA, Limewire, Audiogalaxy,
Imesh, Morpheus, Xolox, Grokster
Registering—when you go to a site that requires you
to register in order to use their service these can potentially
be spyware sites. Sometimes these types of websites/programs
don’t show on a “spyware” list because they
notified you via the policy statement that it’s going
to be collecting information. You agreed to this when you registered.
If you look closely to the disclaimers and registration information
they will include wording such as, “...These applications
may deliver advertisements, collect information, overlay content
or graphics...or modify your system settings.” This is
a quote from the download area of the KaZaA website. For searching
for Internet we recommend a site like Google.com for limiting
your spyware exposure.
Ad-Aware Installed—We recently installed a program called
Ad-aware on the computers in the labs that has helped us to
remove spyware from the computers. There are hundreds of different
types of spyware, some MUCH worse that Commonname.com. Ad-aware
is helping us to keep the student PCs clean.
Computing Services will be also be blocking the CN site, in
the student labs, on Wednesday October 23re. If you have a problem
with a machine, related to CN, spyware or anything else, please
feel free to give a call at x7741 or email us at asccompserv@adams.edu.
Spyware Removal and Spyware Informative Websites
Ad-aware http://www.lavasoft.de/index.html
a spyware removal tool
Ad-aware is a totally free program which scans your memory,
registry, and disk drives for known adware and spyware. You
can also choose to have Ad-aware remove any that it finds. I
strongly suggest you download and use it regularly. You may
be surprised at the nasties it finds. (Windows)
Spybot—a spyware removal tool
Works like Ad-aware and is also free. Can be downloaded from
their website at: http://security.kolla.de
Windows Update http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
It’s also helpful to keep your machine up to date. To
update—select “Windows Update” in your Internet
Explorer browser.
Spychecker http://spychecker.com
Spychecker maintains a database of known spyware. You can search
from the site or use their small program to see if a program
you want to download contains spyware. They update the database
daily. (Windows).
SpywareInfo http://spywareinfo.com
SpywareInfo has a large array of resources to help you keep
your computer free of spyware and most of them are free.
There is an interesting web site form the University
of Illinois that discusses malicious
software (mal-ware) covering anti-virus, spyware, Windows
scripting, Trojans etc.
