For firewalls, I always recommend Zone Alarm from ZoneLabs. To my mind it’s still the best and most intuitive firewall around. But most people only need the free version. And that’s where the problem is. Why do ZoneLabs make it so hard for ordinary users to download it? Readers and friends who have tried to … Read more
It sometimes boggles my mind at how messy and nasty the Internet has become. The Canberra Times (no URL available, can’t find it on their website) quotes Peter Tippett, a member of United States President George W.Bush’s Information Technology Advisory Committee and chief technologist at Cybertrust, as telling a media briefing in Sydney last week … Read more
This week’s Loose Wire column is about cleaning viruses: IF YOUR COMPUTER is infected by a virus, Trojan, worm or some other nasty slice of code, never fear: Worst comes to worst, you can call on a 60-year-old retired Australian lab technician who goes by the on-line nickname of Pancake. Though he wouldn’t put it … Read more
Hardware firewalls are not included in this list. For an excellent comparison of some of these programs see PCPro’s article. Kerio Blurb: Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF) helps users control how their computers exchange data with other computers on the Internet or local network. Kerio Personal Firewall is a necessity for all desktop computers connected to broadband … Read more
Another embarrassing morning. Last night I tried out a new contacts/social networks program called ZeroDegrees, which promises to ‘connect you with the people you really need to reach through the people you already know’ etc etc. A sort of cross between Plaxo and LinkedIn. The software installs into Outlook and one or two other email … Read more