NetBloke.com - Zone Defence
Publication Date: 28/02/2001
ISSN 1445-1360
Publication Date: 28/02/2001
ISSN 1445-1360
G'Day!
Well I am run off my feet at the moment. As you may know I am planning a wedding, a trip to Hawaii, my honeymoon, and getting all my documentation together for my Fiancee Visa interview next Wednesday. So you will have to excuse me over the next couple of months if I occasionally drop one of the sections of the newsletter.
I made a couple of big changes to the Web site too. The biggest was dropping Topica as NetBloke's email list host. Everyone including myself was finding their sign-up process intrusive. Not everyone realised you didn't have to sign up with Topica to get NetBloke (it was in small print). So until I have a few thousand people on the list I will be hosting it myself. The only thing I now require is your email address. I don't store any other data at all.
Last week I had a lot of great feedback on the virus question so I am following that theme onto this weeks newsletter!
Until next week, 'ave a great day mate!
Nathan Allan
An expression of astonishment
For example; "Crikey! That bloke looks like Mel Gibson"
Of course you can understand that I get the above example all of the time.
After the ton of feedback I got from last weeks section on viruses I thought I would feature a couple of Web sites that explain and deal with the dreaded little buggers.
I had the pleasure of meeting Rob Rosenberger the creator of Vmyths.com last year on Chris Pirillo's Radio show (Lockergnome). This site is dedicated to the myths, legends and hoaxes related to computer viruses. It is extremely comprehensive and has a search on the site to look up any myths you may have come across yourself.
I particularly like the fact that he states that "He does not work for any firm which sells antivirus software or services. He accepts no antivirus product advertising on this website". I think this is good as it keeps him impartial to all the various virus protection products out there.
The second site I would like to tell you about is Zone Labs. This is where you find ZoneAlarm which I believe is one of the best personal firewalls on offer, and better yet it is free. You do have the option to upgrade to the Pro version that has some added functionality, however the free version will block attacks on your computer. It will also ask you to authorise any program that 'asks' for Internet access. I found this interesting as you would be amazed at some of the programs that like to use the Internet.
This is definitely worth the download!
http://www.Vmyths.com
http://www.ZoneLabs.com
To continue the virus theme we have a readers opinion on preventing viruses from propagating themselves using your Outlook email. It may be a little technical for some of you but give it a shot if you feel confident enough.
I read your newsletter and had a thought about helping to prevent virus attacks. Tell people to shut OFF the Windows Scripting Host, which by default is turned ON when Windows is installed. With the host disabled, vbs scripts cannot automatically run. Add to that the disabling of the preview pane in Outlook and that is about as well protected as you can be without having an antivirus program and not opening attachments!
Here are the steps needed from your desktop:
Why is a Coin Laundry a really bad place to pick up a woman?
Well a woman who can't even afford a washing machine will probably never be able to support you!
