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Have you recently addressed the following computer-related questions?

1. Do you know what to do in the event of a server/computer crash or virus? Do you have an in-house technician or a reliable outside vendor to call upon, and what is their response time?
2. Is your network secure from unauthorized access? Have tests been conducted to ensure that it is absolutely safe?
3. Is computer data backed up on a regular basis? Do you know how to restore your critical data in the event of an emergency? Are the current backups successful?
4. Are computers regulary scanned for viruses with the most up-to-date virus definitions? Are e-mails scanned for viruses before reaching the end-users?
5. Does the company provide sufficient computer training to new and existing employees?
6. Is computer usage monitored and contolled? Do you know if employees waste valuable?
7. Can employees at remote sites gain access to the corporate network?
   

Downloads and Patches

On Line Anonymity and Privacy         RETURN TO TOP

In order to maintain what little privacy is left to you,  you need some way of hiding your name, internet address,  email address and so on. If you would like to see how much  information your browser sends along as you surf the web, go to Anonymizer, you'll be surprised. To see how open your  computer is to snooping, go to Shield's Up at GRC.COM. Freedom, which was offered by ZeroKnowledge, recently announced it was discontinuing its service. [for those who had subscribed, contact them to get a refund of the unused portion of your fee.

Online Virus Scanners      RETURN TO TOP

A number of anti-virus companies provide free online virus scanning of your computer from their web site. This is normally done using ActiveX so it will only work with Internet Explorer. What happens is that the anti-virus program is downloaded to your computer along with the latest virus definitions. Then every file on your computer (you can probably change this) is scanned for viruses. Needless to say, the process can take a while depending on the speed of your Internet connection and how many files are on your computer. Be aware that this type of virus scanning does not prevent a virus from being installed on your computer a few minutes after the scan completes. Still, if you suspect a problem, this should be one of the first things you try. Among the free online virus scanners are:

Ad/Banner blockers       RETURN TO TOP

These programs will keep those annoying banner ads from cluttering up your screen and from wasting your time while you wait ( and Wait and Wait) for web pages to load. HOWEVER--a warning: some sites will not let you in if they sense you are using Blocker software, after all, they get paid for delivering advertising.
  WebWasher www.webwasher.com
  JunkBuster internet.junkbuster.com    www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/

Protect Yourself From Spyware    RETURN TO TOP

Did you know that sometimes those nifty "free" programs you install, also secretly--without telling you--install some software which gathers information about you and your computer and WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION sends it out over your Internet connection to a remote site? Well, it's up to you to put a stop to it. No one anti-Spyware program catches everything, we suggest using more than one. All the programs run on-demand, some such as Spybot and CounterSpy can also run constantly in the background, much like an anti-virus program.  

Ad-aware is a free Spyware removal utility, that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known Spyware components and lets you remove them safely. www.lavasoftusa.com

SpyBot Search and Destroy is another free Spyware removal program available at www.safer-networking.org or at www.spybot.info  

Joe also likes CounterSpy from Sunbelt Software ($20). It defends against 29,000 Spyware programs. 

Search Engines         RETURN TO TOP

SearchEngineWatch provides some good tips on using search engines, and submitting sites to search engines. Two search engines we like are AlltheWeb and Google.

Patent Information         RETURN TO TOP

O'Reilly & Associates patent information pages
IBM's patent database and search engine
U. S. Government Patent and Trademark Office
Tim O'Reilly's article on the Amazon Patents and his conversation with Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com

Important Reference Site       RETURN TO TOP

One Link we can't do without: WWW.BARTLEBY.COM (The Great Books, Online) gives you free and easy access to the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition; Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition; Simpson's Contemporary Quotations; and The American Heritager Book of English Usage, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, Strunk's Elements of Style; six poetry anthologies, including the Oxford Book of English Verse; Emily Post's Etiquette; the Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes; Frazer's the Golden Bough (1922), Thomas Bulfinch's Mythology (1913) and more.It's a whole small reference library at your fingertips! [adapted from Fred Langa's Newsletter -- the LangaList] 

Donating or Recycling An Old Computer      RETURN TO TOP

For a fee, Dell, HP and IBM will recycle old computers, monitors, printers (and more) from any manufacturer. The prices vary, but range from $15 to $39 per box. Delland HP offer home pickup, IBMrequires you to drop it off with UPS (home pickup is extra). All three require you to first box up the equipment and note that wiping out a computer hard disk of your files is your responsibility. Dell and HP offer rebates, IBM does not. As of July 2003, Dell was offering a rebate of 10% on later purchases from their web site. HP offers coupons for later purchases from their web site. The coupons are roughly the same value as the recycling cost and vary with the equipment and number of boxes. In June and July 2003 Dell got bad publicity for using prisoners to do their recycling. In early July 2003 they decided to change recycling providers. HP has won awards for their recycling program. 

Our webmaster, Michael Horowitz, teaches a class called So You Bought A New PC. Now What?. Recycling an old computer is a topic in the class and he has links on the subject on the web page for the class. 

To donate an old computer:

 
  • Computing for the Disabled in Brooklyn accepts used computers in working condition, Pentium II and higher. They give them to children with disabilities, organizations that serve people with disabilities, as well as nonprofit groups, senior-citizens homes and homeless shelters. (917) 331-0234
     
  • Per Scholas in the Bronx is a nonprofit organization that offers reconditioned computers to people for less than $300, trains community residents to become computer technicians and provides environmentally responsible computer equipment recycling. They accept Pentium II and higher models, as well as printers. (800) 877-4068.
     
  • Harlem Restoration Project accepts computers (Pentium III and higher), scanners and monitors for use in the community. (212) 622-8186

Security Web Site 

To learn about the latest computer security bugs from the U.S. government, go to www.us-cert.gov (the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team).