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Questions &
Answers
Free Stuff?
Q. My brother uses xx?? free antivirus software and
claims he has never had a problem. Why should I spend $50 to buy
PC Tools
or Norton stuff??
A. Do you remember the old saying "there ain't
no free lunch"? Well there is not. Where do you think the
spammers get your email address. Do you think they work their
butts off trying to make a good product for nothing? They are
supported by advertising! If there are no real ads on the page
then you can bet they are selling names or in fact own other sites
that will be sending you all kinds of "Opportunities". You spent
perhaps $1,000 on the system and countless hours creating all the
stuff on your computer. Is it not worth the $50 bucks to protect
it. I have found over the years that Norton or
PC Tools just plain works and
works well. Also they are there for support should it be needed.
Don't cheap out where it matters.
Q. My internet provider is Shaw Cable in Canada.
They offer a free antivirus package that sounds pretty good. Why
shouldn't I just install it and be done with it.
A. There is no reason in the world that I
can think of that you should not install it. It turns out this
is a product that has been round for many years and is solid and
proven. Shaw makes it available to subscribers for up to 5
systems in the home and or office. Go for it. Its not
really free. You pay for it with your subscription to Shaw so take
advantage of it. I use it myself. Shaw also provides
extremely good support services well beyond what I think they need to
provide. If you are having a serious problem - give them a
chance. They are quite amazing.
Q. Many times I get email from friends that has a
bunch of stuff on the bottom offering me "free emoticons" for example.
A. Please Please do not fall for that one.
In many cases this just installs spy ware on your system. They
know where you are going and they can tailor the spam and advertising
to your specific weaknesses. It loads up the mail box with more
useless junk. Keep your email clean and please do not pass
this crap to your friends.
Q. What about the free or "open source"
"office" like packages from places like Sun Microsystems. Or the
"free" Adobe Acrobat reader software. Surly they are not all
bad??
A. No they are not all bad. You have to be
careful and selective. The products like
www.openoffice.org from Sun
Microsystems is a case in point. The is a full suite of products
like a word processor, spreadsheet etc. This is an excellent
product and works very well. Also things like
Adobe Acrobat
Reader are a logical freebie. To create documents that are fixed
into the PDF format is yet another product this company sells and it
is quite expensive. It only makes sense that they freely
distribute the software to read those documents. PDF - means "portable
document format".
Q. When downloading some of these "good" products I
always seem to end up with a bit more than I thought I was going to
get???
A. Always read the screens carefully. As
the process begins they will often offer you yet another product like
the "Google tool bar" or the Yahoo tool bar. This is pretty much the last thing you
need on your screen. They has no real value other than to push all
your stuff to Google or Yahoo. It takes up space and slows things down.
Watch the tick boxes on the screen and read carefully before
installing anything - and I do mean anything. Even stuff you
have paid for sometimes gives you the "opportunity" to get a small
shafting.
That's enuf for this month.
Bill
Send your questions to
bill@geezeraid.com
PS. Feel free to share this link if you think it
will help somebody.
www.theeyeopener.ca
Yes my stuff is free sort of but you will notice some
advertising and yes I make a buck if you click on an ad and buy
something see "always read the fine print"
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