User Beware. Smart Defrag By IOBit

User Beware.

In a previous post I had recommended SmartDeFrag by IOBit. Their product does a good job of Disk Defragmentation, but recently when I updated the program it tried to change my browser homepage without asking. So it essence, SmartDefrag is SPYWARE. I don't care what kind of marketing agreement they've made. Changing settings like this without a prompt, speaks volumes about the company, not in a good way.

No matter how good any software program may be, changing any of my user setting not associated with the program being installed, is totally unacceptable. As a result I must withdraw all my recommendations for any & all software by IOBit. If a company is willing to this with one of their software packages, they cannot be trusted.

If you are using IOBit products, I recommend you stop using them & uninstall immediately, as I have done. If you are not using them, don't.

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Anti-Virus - Part II

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.5 is a PC Thick Client based anti-virus solution. You download a thick client (approximately 62 MB) from the Internet. Once the software is installed, the software uses the traditional method of contacting the AVG servers for updates of known viruses & malware to help protect your computer.

The user schedules the frequency of updates (I recommend once a day) and the software takes care of the rest. Same with system scans. (I recommend at least once a week). I've used for 3+ years and have nothing but good things to say. I am always on the lookout for better solutions, so I have tried a lot of anti-virus products, free & fee based. I keep coming back to AVG Anti-Virus for my thick client based solution.

The one drawback to thick client anti-virus programs is that can tend to slow down your machine a little bit, especially if you have an older machine. In these caes I recommend trying the new cloud based anti-virus from Panda.

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Spyware - Part II

With the proliferation of spyware on the Internet it's not surprising there are so many spyware solutions. Trouble is, many of these so-called solutions don't work, or are in fact spyware themselves. So you need to be careful when browsing for spyware solutions.

In our last post I recommended Spybot - Search & Destroy by Safe Networking. Another very good solution that helps protect against spyware, adware & browser hijackers is SpywareBlaster by JavaCool Software.

Simple to install, easy to use and free. It can be downloaded @ SpywareBlaster Download. Install it today & help protect your Microsoft Windows computer from malicious software.

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Spyware

There's always a lot of talk about spyware, and with good reason. So many innocent looking websites have no other purpose other than to infect your Microsoft Windows computer with spyware.

Luckily there are quite a few effective free solutions to help combat this problem. The one I find most effective is Spybot - Search & Destroy by Safe-Networking. It removes spyware & also immunizes your system once it's clean to help prevent future spyware attacks.

So effective is Spybot - Search & Destroy that it has spawned a bunch of copycat websites playing off the Spybot - Search & Destroy name, trying to get you to download other, inferior, pay for, spyware solutions. Don't be fooled. Spybot - Search & Destroy can be downloaded at Spybot - Search & Destroy.

Install it soon & protect your computer

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