Dust is one of those things you simply can’t avoid. It happens and often. You could be the biggest neat freak in the world and you’ll still get dust. Here are a few tips to keep your computer as dust-free as possible so it lasts longer. 1. Make the back of the box (more) accessible. Most people place their computer boxes in such a way where the back...

Spam control is a necessity if you use e-mail which the vast majority of us do. And although PCMech has covered spam control with several articles on the subject, the methods change from year to year – so consider this an update for the 2008-2009 era of e-mail. Client Side With e-mail clients you have free and paid options but I concentrate on the freebies...

There is a large set of problems that are usually attributed to spyware, but that doesn’t mean the effects of spyware are limited to the items described below. If you are experiencing any one of these, it may be a good idea to run some spyware scans. [hidepost=1]When you start your computer, or when your computer has been idle for many minutes, your web...

The single, all-encompassing term “spyware” is more or less a misnomer, for there are a number of different kinds of software that engage in data harvesting and come under the broad, umbrella-like term “spyware”. Spyware can be loosely associated with viruses; Trojans and Worms being the closest relative to viruses, but there is a fine...

Taken down to its simplest form and to be quite general, spyware is a software technology that assists in information gathering. The kind of information being gathered depends on how the spyware was written and what it was made to target. Once installed on a system, it can collect password data, bank and credit data, information on web surfing habits, email...

This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows. This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name. The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one space. [hidepost=1] When...

At last, we have arrived. As you can see, spam is a huge and apparently growing problem on the internet. Due to the nature of the internet, though, it is not a problem that is easily controlled. As I outlined, spammers are spread out all over the world. Many of them reside in countries which have no laws regarding spam. Additionally, the email system, as...

In order to properly report spam, you need to learn a few basic networking tools. Very often you will see IP addresses only in the email headers. For those who do not know, IP addresses form the basic building block of the internet. It is a series of numbers separated by periods. Every computer connected to the internet has an IP address when it is connected to...

Reporting spam is a good way to fight the problem. You need to know who to report to and what to report. The first rule of thumb is NOT to complain directly to the spammer. As stated above, any reply to the spammer simply tells them your email address is valid. That makes your email address more valuable as a commodity to the spammer. They don’t care how...

Using spam filters is one of the most common ways to battle spam. What this means is that the software scans the incoming email, runs it through a series of tests and compares it to known spam criteria, then decides whether it is a good email or a spam message. If it is spam, it will act according to settings. If it is good, it makes it to your inbox. The...

Ok, so what can you do if you do not host your address on a website but you are still getting spam? You already have the problem. Now what? [hidepost=1] Don’t Buy Anything Never buy anything from a spam message. Ever. The simple fact is that spamming is a business. Its about making money. Spammers are not evil guys out to get you and screw up your day....

How do you stop Spam? After all, that is what this section has been leading up to. Well, the first line of defense is not to get onto their email lists in the first place. As mentioned previously, the main ways they get your email address are you submitting your email address to a website and email harvesters scanning your email address off the web. So, your...

The US government has done things to try to curb the problem of spam. After all, spam is a major problem. It clogs up the internet’s data pathways and costs companies money. The problem is that these laws really don’t mean much at all. Anybody can pass a law, but that doesn’t mean spammers will just all of a sudden turn into great little law...

There has been a lot of lore about a spam message giving your computer a virus and causing all kinds of problems. But, does it actually happen? If the email you received is in text format, the answer is most definitely no. A text message cannot harm your system in any way, so while it may be annoying, you do not have to worry about it. However, if you receive an...

We’ve all experienced this. You sign up for a brand new email account, maybe having switched internet providers. You are getting no spam because nobody knows your email address. But, over time, you begin to get more and more spam until, before too long, its as if you never changed your email address. It can leave you baffled. How the hell did they get my...

In looking at a SPAM message, we need to also look at the body of the message and some of the things often done to entice, throw off, or fool the recipient into responding. Let’s look at the biggies: Hidden URLs Some spammers will make use of various forms of encoding to hide URLs or fool users into clicking on URLs they would not otherwise click on. Many...

In order to understand a SPAM message and how to best prevent them, one needs to know a little bit about how an email works in general. One doesn’t usually think about it. They just type their message along with a “to” address, and it miraculously arrives on the other end. But, how does that work? Well, ironically, one can compare it to postal...

Yes, Spam, is the name for that little blue can of processed “meat” made by Hormel you can find in the grocery store. The meat is junk, which is fitting, but I’m not sure if that’s the source of the word we’ve grown so fond of. Actually, the generally accepted derivation for the word is a Monty Python skit. They had a skit in which...

Every one of us deal with it – we go to check our email and, along with the messages we want from business contacts, friends and family, we download a bunch of unsolicited email advertising. Things like porn sites, medications, low-interest loans, and even the long lost secret of an adventurous love life. It’s novel at first, but after, oh, a few...

Now that we have covered the general background of computer viruses, it all comes down to one thing: how do you prevent it? The good news is that it is very easy to prevent and it is not going to take long to explain this to you. Here are the general preventative techniques. Some of these will be obvious. Others perhaps not as much. [hidepost=1]Install and use...