If you notice any of the following symptoms, you may have adware or spyware installed on your computer:

• Noticeable slowdown in performance with no other explanation.
• Unusual software behavior, such as your Web browser’s home page suddenly changing, new items appearing in your Favorites menu, or programs closing unexpectedly.
• Strange hardware behavior, such as the CD drive opening or unusual hard drive activity.
• Strange network behavior, such as indications by your modem lights that your computer is transmitting data when you are not doing anything online.
• Pop-up ads displaying when you are not surfing the Web.

Protecting Against Unwanted E-mail

• Unwanted e-mail, like junk mail in physical mailboxes, probably can never be completely eliminated. However, there are several things you can do to reduce the amount of spam you receive, including general spam protection practices, using spam filtering services or software, and using sender verification systems.

General Spam Protection Practices

• Do not give out your e-mail address indiscriminately. Spammers often collect addresses from Web forms or buy them from organizations that collect the information. When you fill out online registrations (for example, many online news sites require that you register before you can read the stories), leave the e-mail address blank or provide an alternate address.
• Using Spam Filtering Services and Software
• Using E-mail Sender Verification

Making Web Browsing More Secure

• Many exploits, malware programs, spam schemes, and phishing scams make use of the Web to collect information. Early Web pages consisted of just text and graphics, but now sophisticated Web sites use programming embedded in the Web pages to create amazing special effects. These capabilities also create security issues.

You can make Web browsing more secure by doing a few simple things:

• Keep all security patches and service packs for your Web browser and operating system up to date.
• Configure your browser’s security settings for safe browsing.
• Configure your browser’s privacy settings to avoid unwanted cookies and pop-up ads.
• Be careful about which Web sites you visit. Sites devoted to illegal or questionable subjects, such as hacker sites, sites for downloading pirated music or software, and pornographic sites are most likely to contain malicious code.
• Enable checking of digital signatures on drivers and other programs you download.
• Do not conduct financial transactions or send private information over the Web unless the site is secure (which is usually indicated by a dialog box or a “lock” icon in the browser’s status bar).
• Configure your browser to not automatically download ActiveX controls, or run scripts, Java applets, or other code. If you want to be able to run code on some sites, configure the browser to prompt you before doing so.

You can adjust the security settings for your Web browser software to make Web browsing more secure

• You can test your Web browser software for common vulnerabilities and determine its encryption strength most corporation and ISP provide Internet assistance and advice in this area. Consult with your ISP or IT department for assistance.

Note: Some organizations IT policies specify that updates and patches only be installed by the IT department. Organizations may delay deploying service packs and other updates because of conflicts with proprietary software. Do not download or install software of any kind, including updates, and do not change the automatic update settings on any computer owned by the organization without the knowledge and permission of the IT department.

www.bestitdocuments.com