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Many of us today have software programs that include some sort of “digital shredder” that will on demand destroy personal information on our computers. What websites we have been to, what we downloaded, old emails, secure websites we have logged in to, all traces gone with a click of the mouse … or are they???  For the past two years I have thought that once a week I had been cleaning my machine of this valuable personal information, and boy was I wrong. Through a chance encounter with my online backup program, I got a look at some of the cookies that were still on my home computer and was shocked to see how my personal information had not been deleted at all by the program I was using. In fact, I could trace everywhere this computer had been in the past year … and that’s when I became completely disgusted.   So I did what all of us do. I pointed my internet browser toward searching for a flexible yet thorough solution to computer cleansing needs.

After looking at the products on the market, I found Webroot’s Window Washer offered the most options and greatest user flexibility. I can wipe down just a few temp folders, or I can thoroughly clean and “bleach” all the traces of information left in my computer’s pockets completely and confidently erasing them permanently! Window Washer also give you a system eraser that enables the user to create a bootable cd/floppy that can be inserted into computer to completely remove all contents.  Even a reformat can’t do that.

Window Washer’s user interface is extremely easy to use.  All categories are divided into sections that can be checked or unchecked at any time.  For those who consider themselves technologically impaired, like me, Webroot has made the program pretty self explanatory.  If you mouse over a section, a short description will appear explaining what type of files would be located here to help assist you in deciding if that particular area is one you think Window Washer should clean.  Also, cleanings are completely customizable for either manual, daily or scheduled tasks. It’s really simple to customize the programs and once you set your schedule, you can forget about it!  Window Washer takes care of the rest for you. 

Also included in this program is a nifty feature that allows you to right click on any file on your computer and instantly shred it. (Yes really shred the file, not like the other software programs I mentioned previously).

To anyone who may be skeptical about whether or not Window Washer can do what it says it can do, Webroot give you a 30 day free trial to test drive the program.  I think you’ll be as surprised and amazed as I was about how much extra junk and personal information your computer is toting around without you even knowing about. It’s a real shame to know that your PC, to a even a novice hacker, knows more about you than your significant other! Scary, huh?

All in all, I couldn’t be happier with the added security I now have on my machine with the use of Window Washer. The peace of mind knowing that all traces of what I read, where I went, what I was working on, and where I logged in to is well worth the cost of the program. With all the phony security programs out there that just don’t do what they claim, I really do find it comforting to know when Window Washer says clean … your PC is clean … period!

I had a couple of dead spots in my house with my wireless signal and wanted to get a little more coverage in the house. I already had a Linksys WAP54g wireless access point so I went out and grabbed another one. Here are the steps that I did to have 2 wireless access points connected to my network:

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A friend of mine called me a couple of days ago to tell me about this great hard drive backup service called “Mozy Online Backup for Home”.  Until this time, I have never heard about this service.  My friend Joe explained that this program backs up all of his files and stores them at an off site location.  He found this service a few weeks ago when his computer crashed and he lost a lot of important information and work.  Joe was so enthusiastic about this service from Mozy that I had to see it for myself. 

I don’t always practice what I preach about backing up important information from my hard drive.  Often I find it to be a pain in the butt to back up my files, so I figured I would give Mozy’s service a try.  I will admit that at first I was a bit skeptical because I run the Windows Vista 64 Bit operating system.  I expected to receive a message telling me that this service was not compatible with my operating system.  To my surprise, I was wrong.  The software was downloaded and installed quickly on my machine with no issues.  Within ten minutes I had the program up and running on my computer.

I have been very impressed with Mozy’s online backup service for my home.  Now I don’t have to worry about my computer being backed up or even storing CD’s or tape cartridges down at my local bank because the program is always running in the background storing my important documents, photos and music at a secured site.

I did find one drawback to Mozy’s program.  You are not able to backup data from external hard drives.  I have a networkable hard drive that is attached to my home network using an Ethernet cable.  I can’t back up this information while taking care of the files on my internal hard drive.  If I want this information backed up, I will have to move this information to my computer.  While an extra step in the process, it is not so difficult that I wouldn’t use this service.  In fact, I think this service overall is a home run.

If you too are a bit skeptical about using an online backup service, one of the great things about Mozy is that you can use it for free.  You are allowed to use the service to backup 2 gigs of data for one PC no charge.  Mozy won’t even ask you for a credit card number when you sign up for the free service.  If you like the service (like I do), you can go ahead and purchase the unlimited backup service for a little under $55.00 a year or even get a bigger discount if you purchase it for two years.  While not free, if you have additional computers on your home network you can add them to your service for an additional cost. 

I would strongly recommend Mozy’s Online Backup for Home for anyone interested in an easy way to protect their important computer files.

Today I came across an interesting program called Ultimate Cleaner.  I had a customer who was complaining that they get getting popup notices that their computer was infected with trojan.looksky and they needed to download a protection program to remove the infection.  When I got to the house I immediately noticed that it looked like one of those cheesy fake alerts.  Their background was changed to red (to indicate an emergency situation) and had a notice that the computer was having problems.

McAffee was installed on the computer but the subscription had expired which was probably the reason that they got infected with Ultimate Cleaner.  We loaded Spy Sweeper with Antivirus protection on the computer and started the scan process.  Spy Sweeper indicated that the computer had Trojan-Ace-X which has the ability to download program to the computer, Troj/Pmwdl-Gen (Virus) and of course Ultimate Cleaner (this appear to be a rogue spyware removal program).  It took a couple of scans on the computer to clean the infection off until the infection went away.

Something to keep in mind is if you have a computer setup for your children, it is a good idea to make sure the computer is running correctly.  I got a laugh when one of the children stated that “they remember seeing a notice about their McAffee being expired”.  Just like a typical teenager, he failed to tell his parents to renew the subscription.  Keeping your computer running properly by having Anti-Virus, Spyware and Firewall protection will save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

Yes I do sell Spy Sweeper, but I do because it simply works!