Download The Bauer-Power Security Pack

Many moons ago, like most guys in the biz, I used to do my own Geek Squad style home computer repair/consulting gig. It was a pretty sweet racket. So many home users trashing their computers, so little time! I was making money hand over fist advertising on Craig's List, and doing spyware cleanups in the evening.

One of my little marketing ploys was to hand out a CD of free software to all of my clients, and I called it the "Bauer-Power Consultation Security Pack!"

Good idea right?

Well, tonight after spending the last three or four hours assisting my two neighbors with their various computer issues, I got to thinking about that CD, so I decided to download some cool and most importantly Free security and performance software, and stick them on a CD to give a kick ass update to the old idea!

My CD includes:

• AVG Anti-virus - Free Antivirus
• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - Anti-Malware to clean up
• Spybot S&D - Anti-Spyware cleaner
• Zone Alarm - Firewall
• Defraggler - Disk Defragmenter
• Truecrypt - File and Disk Encryption
• Eraser - Secure File Destruction
• Recuva - File Recovery
  

To make it easy to share my CD with all of my friends, family and of course you guys out there in cyberspace, I have saved my Bauer-Power Security Pack CD to an ISO and made it available for you to download here: (Bauer-Power Security Pack)

Feel free to download it, burn it to a CD, and hand it out any time someone tells you that they have a virus, or they mention that they have let their anti-virus lapse, or need to securely erase porn... You get the idea.

If you don't want to take the time to burn them a CD yourself, feel free to send them the link to this post so they can download and burn it themselves!

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Why Those Free Software Downloads May not Exactly Be Free

Most downloadable software sites are just spy ware. By downloading from these sites you leave yourself vulnerable to hackers and pop ups. If you receive an email with anti spy ware links do not click on these.

When using the Internet be very cautious of free downloadable software, such as sites that offer you free downloadable cursors, tool bars, and smiley faces as well as many other appealing things. If you don''t know this site is a safe site then do not download anything from the site. Most downloadable software sites are just spy ware. By downloading from these sites you leave yourself vulnerable to hackers and pop ups. If you receive an email with anti spy ware links do not click on these. These advertisers are trying to make you think they are a reputable site giving you anti spyware when really you are downloading those programs.

If you think you may have these programs on your computer make sure you find a reputable site to provide protective spyware for you. If you wish to limit pop ups and spy ware; adjust your browser accordingly to limit your pop ups and spy ware. Some tool bars give you the option to block all pop ups, as much as this may be a good thing it can be bad as well because it can stop all windows from popping up including normal ones you are familiar with. Always try to be familiar with any pages you plan to open other wise you may be opening spy-ware. Again it can be downloaded with or without your knowledge so the best you can do is to keep an anti virus/spyware program on your computer.

If you think you may have these programs on your computer, then you need to get it off of your PC as soon as you can; spyware can take your personal information and give it out to anyone without your knowledge. Some anti virus programs are designed with removers built in. There are two types of anti spy-ware programs: those that alert you after the it has already been downloaded onto your computer. These are okay but not always a best choice because they may have already done their damage. The second type alerts you as it is trying to download onto your computer. These are very good ideas because it can stop the program in its tracks.

If you tend to use the Internet a lot you should run a scan of your computer at least once a week to check for any viruses or other malicious programs. If you do not have a protective program try to find a reputable detection program such as; Ad Aware, Spy Sweeper, Pest Patrol, Spy bot search and destroy. All of these are great programs to help your computer stand up against malicious programs and keep your computer safe from the hassles of the Internet.

By Gregg Hall

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as popup blocker software at http://www.firstpopupblocker.com

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Stopping Spyware

Wikipedia defines Spyware as "...computer software that collects personal information about users without their informed consent." Some of it is worse than others. Most of it is used by marketing companies to track website usage to tailor advertisements to match your surfing habits. Others are a little more intrusive and can harm your computer.

I find that a lot of people are completely oblivious to spyware, and it's affects on their computers. Most average users have only heard of antivirus, and pay no consideration to an antispyware solution. I have on numerous occasions taken calls, or went to some one's house asking me to do something about their computer running so ridiculously slow. 9 times out of 10, their systems are riddled with spyware.



So what are you going to do about it? I'll be honest, I don't mind being paid $50 an hour to come over and clean up your computer, but let's face it, you can do it yourself for free.

Two of the best antispyware solutions on the Internet are free, and if used together with your antivirus program (By the way there are free versions of those too), you can keep your system relatively clean. Some of you already know the secrets I am about to reveal, and probably don't think they are secrets at all. For the rest, you have never heard of either of these, and to those people...You're welcome!

1) Spybot Search & Destroy: This little utility is absolutely free of charge, and if you read the license, is not only restricted to private use. It is donation ware, so if you feel obligated, please donate to their cause. It is really great and is updated regularly. You can also schedule it to autoupdate with certain command switches, and you can also schedule it to run at certain times. What's that smell? It smells like automation!

2) Adaware SE Personal: This utility by Lavasoft is only free for personal use, so that's right...You can't add it to the corporate Ghost image legally. According to Lavasoft, Adaware scans"...your RAM, Registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data-mining, advertising, and tracking components." Since it isn't the pro version, you can't easily automate Adaware. For automation, you have to buy their pro version.

As I mentioned above, it is best to install both programs together and run them both. One will catch what the other missed and vice versa. Complete the trinity with your antivirus, and keep your computer running at maximum efficiency.

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