Public Awareness - How do I make my PC secure on the Net?

As a 15 yr. professional in the IT field, I've realized for some time (the last 3 years or so) that public awareness of how to make your PC secure on the Internet is not good at all. Most people think that a good virus scanner will solve all of there problems. Not true at all!

The major contributor to this problem is the ever growing popularity of high-speed DSL/CABLE connections. Only now, Major ISP's (I'll use SCB Yahoo! for this example) are taking steps to ensure that their customers have a secure connection to the Internet. What are they doing? you ask. They are now providing DSL modems that are much more than just a modem. They are hybrids: Modem/Hardware Firewall and Wireless Router all in one. Yet, when setup straight out of the box the firewall is set to be standard not stealth.

Hardware firewalls (also known as routers) have many options to configure, for your regular Joe/Jane user this is way beyond them. The best feature of any router is the stealth firewall technology. The stealth part of this works like this. When you click a link for a web page it will pass through your router to the appropriate site, your sending a request for the data to come back to you (the web-page you have requested). When the data (web-page) comes back to your router, your router then examines the IP address of the outbound request to the inbound data. If these two IP address match, the router then allows the data to pass through to your PC. The other condition is, any request that comes to your router that has not been sent outbound (by you) is ignored and not responded to at all. Thus making you 100% invisible to hackers trying to scan your IP. So if the stealth is not enabled by the user your router will respond to the hackers IP scanner and BINGO! the hacker then will start working on infiltration of your router and PC. Currently Joe/Jane user can take care of this problem by calling SBC Yahoo! support and telling them they want to enable the stealth firewall feature. The support will then walk you through the steps to enable the stealth feature and there will be no more worries.

For PC users that have older SBC Yahoo! 2Wire Hybrids or have a entirely different modem or ISP there is still hope. You need to get a router that has the stealth firewall technology and have it properly installed. So far the most cost effective way to do this is to find a guy like me in your community that provides this service at a reasonable price.

Once you have a hardware firewall in place running stealth you still need a quality Anti-Virus application installed in your PC. Unfortunately way to many legitimate sites are now dropping spyware/trojans/viruses into PC's. The worst among these sites are children's games sites.

Here are the products and services I suggest:

NetGear router (wireless or not) cost effective w/leading edge stealth firewall technology.

Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security (It's the best)

www.trendmicro.com

Configuration of this security suite can be a bit complicated, yet the design offers a step by step process of sub menus. At $40 a year for a personal license it's affordable, the best part is the 30 day full functionig trial. Don't even think about Norton or Macafee over this product, Norton and Macafee both fail to address major security issues and I can't tell you how many PC's I've had to uninfect that where running either one.

Trend Micro also provides an invaluable on-line scanner (House Call) that will detect ANYTHING unwanted in your PC.

In summary, below is my AD I am running on the local community board. You should expect an prospective AD to look similar to mine.

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Installing complete wireless networks.

While installing your wireless network, I will clean out all of the Trojans, Viruses and Spyware found in your PC. This will speed up and optimize your PC's performance. I will also install an Anti-Virus application to prevent any further problems with Trojans, Viruses and Spyware. Once this process is complete, you will have a permanent preventive solution.

I provide an honest service (I'll get the job done as quickly and thoroughly as possible, no games or hustling)

Prices
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1 Netgear Wireless Router + 1 Wireless Adapter for $120

1 Netgear Wireless Router + 2 Wireless Adapters for $140

Add $25 for each additional wireless adapter.

I can also extend your wireless range to 200-400ft so you can make your home and yard a wireless hotspot for an additional $50

*NOTE*: All of the above services include brand new equipment.

If you currently have a router (wireless or not) I will install it for $50

I'm taking calls day and night for appointments.

Call Paul @ XXX 228 6744
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That's all for now, I hope this has helped you.

XaviorZ